The Lost Legacy
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to The Nomad Emissary. It hasn't even been 7 days ever since the "Nomad Emissary" was assumed dead that a person claiming to be working for a new "Dealer" organization makes his existence know to the Satella Police and thus begins a world-wide chase for him as he picks up some enigmatic artifacts: who is he really and is there a truth behind his lies? And what's his goal?
1. Chapter 1: Intruder

**The Lost Legacy**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Intruder**

09:04 AM (Japan Time), Monday September the 6th, 2205…

"… Man! I'm SO bored! Oi! Bertie~! Let's go beat the "R" jerks again! I wanna feel the thrill!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I have to finish my homework, War Rock."

"What homework? Aren't ya in the midst of the summer vacations?"

"They end next Monday. And I have roughly 10% of the homework pending. I have to finish it up. Do you think middle school will forgive any delays on submitting the homework, War Rock?"

"Dunno!"

"As expected."

"Why do ya look so dry? Get annoyed! I like to see ya getting annoyed and frustrated!"

"I won't dance to your flute's tune. I'm 13 years old. I'm learning to hold myself back."

"So? Are ya gonna go into a date with Tsukasa~?"

"His whereabouts are still unknown even though Boss suspects he's somewhere in Choina."

"There goes Detective Bertie~!"

Hoshikawa Subaru, aged 13, was trying to bear with War Rock's ramblings as he worked on solving his homework within his house's bedroom: he looked unimpressed and War Rock looked impatient.

"Will you stop bothering me with the nickname?" Subaru calmly asked without bothering to look up from the homework.

"Nope! I wanna see ya play the "game" with Solo!" War Rock grinned and sounded amused.

"I rather wish for Solo to turn hostile and serious again: I can't stand people who can't do anything else but troll others."

"Heh, heh, heh. So, Omega is the blacklist, too?"

"Omega – san? Yeah. Totally. Everyone has blacklisted him by now. Only Moon Disaster seems to tag along him but that's because he's into the trolling club, too." Subaru sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Ah… Hit a spot, B-B-B-Bertie~!" War Rock taunted.

"Come on… I'm Subaru, not "Bertie". I know I used the name "Albert" in the past but the past is the past. This is the present. End of the story: go boycott Ox's newest plan to undermine your reputation."

"WHA~T? Ox! Ya jerk! Wait and see! I'll blow ya up!"

War Rock flew off the room and Subaru sighed in relief: he focused on his homework again.

"Really… The only thing I can do to shake him off is to bring up his rivalry with Ox… War Rock… When will you try to be somewhat more serious, anyway?" He sighed.

He checked his Hunter – VG and spotted the "mail" icon on it so he checked it out.

"Huff… Lovely… From Moon Disaster… Fantastic. "YO, YO, YO! Who was the King of Gamma Empire in the year 1111 BC? King Noses, King Aces, King Roses? Vote for you option! YO, YO, YO! Brought to you by the Moon Ace and Mars Warrior duo!" … Not again… These polls are silly! There's never been that "Gamma Empire" to begin with. So the three choices are false! When will they stop fooling people like this?"

He sighed in resignation and cursed under his breath…

09:10 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Buro~! Gonta! Oi! Wake up! Someone's knocking at the door!"

"Hmm… Roast beef… Hmmm…"

"BURO~!"

"YIKES!"

"So! Will ya answer to the door or are ya gonna wait until they bring it down to the ground?"

"W-what?"

"Move!"

"Uh… Okay, okay…"

Ushijima Gonta sleepily dragged his feet until the door and unlocked it before heading back in and not bothering to check who it was: Ox rolled his eyes as if finding his behavior to be exasperating.

"GONTA!"

"Yikes! _I – iinchou_?"

Shirogane Luna was standing on the threshold along with Mode (who was humming a tune) and she looked annoyed.

"Homework! Show me the summer vacation homework!" She commanded.

"Huh? Summer vacation… homework…? Huh… Where did I put that…? It looked so hard that I stuffed it somewhere else…"

"WHAT? We're just one week away from starting the new school year and you haven't completed _a single page_ of the homework? Are you insane or what? Do you think you'll get past the first day like that? Do you think you can do that volume of homework in just a week's time? Subaru – kun and Kizamaro are almost done with it: move your fatty belly and start working on it or else someone will pay the consequences!" She exploded into pure rage.

"Y-yes, ma'am…" He turned white.

"This ball of fats and calories…!" She hissed.

Gonta began to sweat in a nervous manner and he stepped back but Luna only slammed his door shut in a violent manner: he sighed in relief and began to look around: Ox was folding his arms as he hovered in a corner and looked unimpressed.

"Later."

"O-oi!"

Ox vanished outta the room and Gonta's jaw hit the floor: he began to rummage all of his drawers and shelves in a mad rush until he found a thick course-book which he checked and he looked astonished while examining it.

"N-no way! Do I have to solve this alone…? Oh! Kizamaro! The guy will obviously help me out! I need to call him out!"

He picked up his Hunter – VG and dialed a number: Saishouin Kizamaro and Pedia showed up on-screen: Kizamaro adjusted his glasses and had a smile on his face.

"So! Gonta – kun! _Iinchou_ just told me."

"E~H?"

"Probabilities of mass panic clock at 85%..." Pedia whispered.

"Sadly enough… You'll have to solve that on your own somehow! Good luck, Gonta – kun!" Kizamaro grinned.

"O-oi! Wait! Kizamaro!"

The communication ended and Gonta gasped at seeing a message show up onscreen:

"YOU FAIL - JACK"

"No way! What am I gonna do? What can I do? Gra~h! They're all boycotting me~!" He yelled.

09:15 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Ops! I actually forgot my sunglasses which are part of the outfit for the new episode of the drama series' recording today… Sunglasses, sunglasses… Harp! Any ideas where I left them? I was trying them out yesterday while rehearsing my lines!"

"The sunglasses…? Hmmm… Dunno, really. I was trying to tease War Rock so I didn't pay much attention to what ya did in the meanwhile… Maybe in a drawer or next to the bed…?"

"Could be, yeah."

"If ya don't mind… I'm off to catch news of the "Albert" front…"

"Sure, sure. Just don't believe anything you find at random: Omega could've tried to come up with a digitally edited photo and a fake magazine story to troll people."

"Pororon!"

Hibiki Misora ran inside of an apartment and talked with the Wizard Harp in the meanwhile: she giggled and warped away while Misora opened a desk's drawer and rummaged inside.

"Not here… Guess in the bedroom, then."

She checked a small bedroom next to the living room but didn't seem to find them, either, so she frowned and brought the right index finger to her chin.

"Sunglasses, sunglasses…! Jeez! Where did I store them? I sometimes look like Gonta – kun when taking care of putting things where I can find them, really! Sunglasses… Ah! The bathroom, maybe…?"

She rushed into the bathroom and spotted them next to the sink: she smiled and tried them on before looking at her reflection from different angles.

"Good. Let's head back."

"Not so fast, woman."

KA-CLICK!

"Who the…?"

Misora looked at the mirror: she spotted a young teen slightly taller than her (maybe over a meter and sixty tall) and having messy brownish hair plus red blood eye irises standing behind her and aiming a gun at her neck from behind.

The teen sported a blood red sleeveless vest over a black shirt, jeans and black knee-tall boots: he also wore a black leather belt which had four grenades and a stylized knife attached to it plus a blue backpack.

"… Where's the Subspace HQ?" The teen demanded.

"Huh? The Subspace HQ? Unless ya own a spacecraft… Then getting there is impossible." Misora calmly replied without moving or turning.

"A spacecraft, you say?" The teen sounded surprised.

"Yeah. The Subspace HQ isn't a building: it's a gigantic UFO – shaped spacecraft continuously orbiting Earth!" She grinned.

"What? By all the… And there I thought it was hidden somewhere in the Bermudas!" The teen cursed.

"The only thing I know which is in the Bermudas is the sunken Mu Continent and the Bermuda Labyrinth above it where Burai usually lodges at." She shrugged.

"Burai! The last descendent of Mu, THE Burai, you mean?"

"Yeah! And I'll add something: the HQ is cloaked using a stealth camouflage field! Radars can't pick it up! And even if ya could use the Wave Roads to get to the Japan Cosmo Wave, then ya would need to predict where it'd pass by given its speed, height, perigee, apogee and orbital period!" Misora listed next.

"There's more to it, right?" He seemed to guess.

"Yessir! You need to be authorized _from the inside_ to be allowed to rendezvous with it! And there's always someone in charge of that!"

"Che! Clever bothersome guy, that Vadous…!"

"Ah… I guess where ya come from."

"Huh? How?"

"Vadous' existence is a very tightly kept secret! You must've spied on the Satella Police… Or maybe you've heard Mr. King of Dealer grumbling about "Zataki Tosho"?" She guessed.

"Mr. King is my Boss."

"Former Dealer, eh? Then ya must know of Akatsuki – san…"

"Akatsuki Shidou, that bothersome traitor…! Dealer was filled with traitors! Queen Tia, Jack, Heartless… The only loyal one was Joker but that because the guy was a freaking Wizard!"

"I'd rather say that you're stuck. Even if you used a spacecraft then you still are left with the problem of locating the ship. And even if ya could board it unharmed, ya would have a welcome committee! Ya better give up if ya value your hide." Misora added with some amusement.

"Che! I'll go settle the score with that bothersome Akatsuki, then! I've got no more uses for you, woman, but don't get on my way or you die. I'm serious." The intruder warned.

"Sure, sure." She shrugged.

The intruder lowered the gun and began to turn around as he holstered it but Misora suddenly ran towards him, closed her right arm around his neck and gripped his right arm from behind using her left arm: she then tackled him into the ground and quickly picked the gun and knife from him before standing up, recoiling and aiming both at him.

"Ya are forgetting something: as a member of the Satella Police's "Raid Troop", I have received training to tackle intruders and attackers like ya. I dunno how ya got inside but this and being armed are enough motives to close ya in a detention center." She grinned.

"By all the…!"

"Harp!"

"Ya called? Whoa! Who's that?"

"A Dealer pawn… Call Akatsuki – san and the Satella Police! Don't worry if you need to shove Denpa – kuns outta the Wave Road: top priority! And if ya see War Rock or Ox, tell them to come give me a hand. Tell them there's something amusing going on." She instructed.

"Roger!"

"And cha better don't move. Or else I'll knock ya out in a painful manner, too." She warned.

"Crap." He grumbled.

"So? What's your name?"

"… Darkus Mors." He admitted.

"Darkus Mors, eh? Yet… You sound like a foreigner from time to time so I guess King picked ya from a foreign country."

"… Thailand." He replied.

"Ah… Thailand. I see. It'd seem my reasoning skills are improving. Well! Be a good guy and wait for the cops to come. And any suspicious gesture and I'll knock you out with the barrel of the gun. Akatsuki – san himself taught me that, so I know it works." She warned.

"… Warp. HQ."

"Huh? What "Warp"?"

Something inside of his backpack began to emit purple streams of light and a white circle was drawn on the ground around him: it suddenly displayed a blurry image of a metallic-like room somewhere else: Darkus Mors suddenly _sank_ inside of it and the phenomenon vanished: Misora's jaw hit the floor.

"W-what was that?"

"Yo! Misora! We're here!"

Akatsuki Shidou and Acid plus two Satella Police officers ran inside and stopped, surprised, to look around.

"Eh… Didn't Harp say there was an intruder?"

"There was! He vanished!" Misora exclaimed.

"Vanished? How?"

"Eh… He was there! Face down on the ground and with the hands aiming forward because I was keeping him at bay. He suddenly muttered "Warp. HQ." and a strange white circle displaying a blurry image of another location formed before _he sank into it_! That was barely 1 minute ago and I swear I wasn't hallucinating!" She nervously explained.

"But how did…?" Shidou asked.

"Something inside of his backpack emitted purple light… And now that I think about it… The phenomenon… It reminded me of the "black holes" which Solo sprung in Kodama Town to draw Rock Man out!" Misora realized.

"What! What was that device's name again…? Eh…"

"… Shidou… They named it "Kamikakushi"… "Spiriting away"…"

"Ah! Yeah. But those things were pretty big, right? I don't think they'd fit in someone's backpack."

"This Dealer agent seems to have gone back to some new HQ King has seemingly built. I'd say King has decided to set up a new "Dealer" organization using money he'd hid somehow. And his name is "Darkus Mors", by the way." Misora sighed.

"Darkus Mors, huh…"

"He claims to have been in the "old Dealer" as well. He's targeting the Subspace HQ but I'd rather say _King_ is the one pulling his strings. We should start to trace the guy." Misora explained.

"Leave it up to us. And please give us that. Did the guy wear gloves, by any chance?"

"No. He didn't."

"Good! Then he left fingerprints in these which we can run into a database to see if we can figure out. And "Darkus Mors" sounds more like a fake name if ya ask me." Shidou grinned.

"Shidou. Don't get over-confident." Acid warned.

"What… When did I ever get over-confident?"

"Like a hundred times." He dully countered.

"Yeah, yeah. You go and tell Queen Tia to stop acting like a leech, will ya, Acid?" Shidou rolled his eyes.

"That's Dr. Yoiri's responsibility."

"Ahem, ahem! Anyway! Misora: do you give us permission to search the house? He may have left a hair behind or something like that. It could help run DNA tests to find out his ID." Shidou requested.

"Sure. I have to go to Okudama Studios to work in the recording of the new drama series, anyway! I'll tell Urakata – san that something popped out in the middle." She shrugged.

"Pororon! War Rock and Ox have started the 6th FM War." Harp sarcastically announced as she showed up.

"And, as usual, Subaru – kun and Gonta – kun will have to separate them before they destroy the whole town." Misora rolled her eyes.

"Jeez. At least it's not like Omega's secret form in which he goes unleashed and doesn't stop until he's knocked out or the enemy is defeated. That of Planet Omicron was scary enough."

"Not to mention the experiences Subaru – kun had when fighting that "Nomad Emissary"…" Misora sighed.

"Okay! King! Get ready to be dethroned! Your worst nightmare is gonna blow ya up!" Shidou grinned.

Misora, Harp and Acid rolled their eyes while he laughed…


	2. Chapter 2: Persistence

**Chapter 2: Persistence**

11:11 AM (Japan Time), Monday September the 6th…

"… Man. Still nothing in Japanese databases… Guess he's a foreigner after all and I should search in Thailand…"

"A new "interest" showed up? Akatsuki."

"Yikes! Queen Tia! Stop sneaking behind me to then look at me like I was the bringer of all misfortune!"

"I warned you, Shidou."

"Oh. Shut up."

Shidou had been working on something while using the Satella Police HQ's computers when Queen Tia snuck up from behind while having a skeptical and suspicious glare to her: he let out an exasperated sigh while Acid was unimpressed.

"No! I'm searching for a guy who had the guts to sneak into Misora's apartment, question her at gun-point and then vanish in a weird manner when Misora had overpowered him!" He replied.

"Ah. If that's the case… So? Hoshikawa's companion showed up already, Akatsuki?"

"Futaba? Not yet. Vadous is running that investigation personally by approaching old connections of the "Secret Empire" given how they still believe him to be the spokesperson for Anaya Maria."

"Ah. Misinformation campaign…" She lifted an eyebrow.

"And let me remind ya that ya aren't allowed to come close to Misora outside of group briefings here on the HQ."

"I knew that. Dr. Yoiri has been very strict on that."

"Just to be on the safe side. Now go help her with something else while I try to ID this old Dealer agent.

"Old Dealer agent?"

"Darkus Mors. Does the name ring a bell?" Shidou asked her.

"No."

"Description: meter and sixty tall, 14 or so years old, brown messy hair, blood red eyes…" He described.

"Hmmm… I remember someone with brown messy hair and _blue_ eyes around that age and height but never got to remember his name. But I thought he'd died in a suicide mission." She admitted.

"Do you know where that mission took place or when?" Shidou looked interested.

"The where I don't know yet the when was in March, 2204. Before the Mu Continent affair began…" She calmly concreted.

"And we're in September, 2205. So… He's been missing for a year and a half and now he shows up again while acting like a pro agent. The timeline reeks… And maybe his answers were designed to fool Misora by tracking along the path she was drawing…" He muttered.

"It's a plausible _scenario_." Acid admitted.

"Anyway… I better continue the investigation."

Queen Tia turned around and headed away without uttering a word: Shidou sighed in relief and sat down on the chair while writing down something on his Hunter – VG's "Real Wave" screen.

"Good. We've confirmed he was in Dealer, though. He changed his looks but that doesn't matter. We gotta locate King or try to search the old Dealer base to see if we can find out any info about the guy's name or where in Thailand did King pick him from." He summarized with a broad smile.

"Mail from Moon Disaster. He says your fan-girl club's numbers have lifted to 333 by now." Acid suddenly reported.

"By all the… Tell him to disband that."

Shidou rolled his eyes and cursed under his breath…

11:22 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Nangoku – san? Hello? Weird. There's no one. Why did he send that email asking for a helping hand reach me when he doesn't seem to have returned from his Shiisaa Island trip, then?"

"Easy. That was bait, Hoshikawa. You _will_ tell me what I wish to know or you will die here like the fake hero you are."

"W-who the…?"

"Darkus Mors. New Dealer Agent."

"New Dealer Agent, you say! I knew it: King still wants my head in a silver platter!"

"Correct. But he might spare you if you tell me what he wishes so badly to know."

"Ask."

"Heh. Straight to the point… Good. Where's the stolen money?"

"Huh? The stolen money…? The money Boss drew away from your boss' bank accounts, you mean? Dunno the exact places: Boss told me he donated amounts of it to _real_ charities and the rest he stored up somewhere I don't know."

Subaru had come into the "BIG WAVE" store only to find it empty and devoid of life: Darkus Mors suddenly dropped down from the ceiling and landed behind Subaru while aiming a gun at his neck from behind: Subaru lifted his hands and glared at him over his right shoulder.

"Should've thought that… Anyway… Who exactly is Vadous?"

"A former member of the "Secret Empire" which "IQ" ruled… IQ's spokesperson, an elite-class agent… He was charged with running his own organization to become a scapegoat in case something was to pick up the police's investigations…" Subaru explained.

"Oh… Scapegoat, you say… And he lives in that orbital HQ, then? He never comes out?" He sounded interested.

"From time to time, yeah. But he has a civilian ID."

"Zataki Tosho, right?" He caught up.

"Yeah. I know Akatsuki – san brought the topic out to him one year ago, more or less, when investigating my "disappearance"…" Subaru calmly shrugged.

"I heard about that. Yet it'd seem it was all a ruse to hide from that "IQ" character…" Mors grinned.

"Correct. You should be glad King picked you and that "IQ" or its countless proxies didn't seize you. You'd be dead by today." Subaru warned him.

"Huh? But I thought the whole "Secret Empire" was just about money laundering, drugs, fake medicines and smuggling goods?" He sounded somewhat puzzled.

"That was part of it. But the main part was "clubs" and what went on beyond those concrete walls." Subaru sounded icy.

"… Ah. I get the point." He dully replied.

"Anyway! If King what is trying to do it to get into his HQ, then…" Subaru began.

"I know. I heard the thing from Hibiki."

"From Misora – chan? What did you to her?" He questioned.

"Hmpf! Ask Akatsuki."

"I guess she overpowered you." Subaru made a smug smile.

"Che. Was it that obvious?"

"The quickness in which you switched topics…"

"Hmpf! Whatever."

"Maybe if he hires Hyde he will come up with something…" Subaru suddenly suggested.

"Hyde? Phantom Black? Does the guy know something useful?"

"Yeah. How to show up only to be beaten down…"

"You lowlife… Don't laugh at me!" Mors growled.

"You forgot to take off the safety, rookie." Subaru told him.

"I ain't a rookie!"

"The Makarov tends to suffer from "failure to feed", did you know that one?" Subaru brought up.

"What! You mean that the next round doesn't get properly loaded into the firing chamber and the gun won't fire?" Mors gasped.

"Yeah. They told that to us in a firearm recognition course."

Mors lowered the weapon and checked the firing chamber: Subaru suddenly whipped around in a blur and kicked the gun out of his hands before gripping the vest's neck with both hands and throw Mors into the ground using a _judo_ – like technique: Subaru quickly picked the grenades and knife and kicked the gun further away into a corner where he threw the rest of the stuff.

"Not again! How can I be disarmed so easily?" He cursed.

"That "disappearance" wasn't just about hiding me but rather helping me train in self-defense skills using a combination of boxing, _kendo_ and target shooting. I've now switched to a mix of disarming techniques and been training about the characteristics of the most used weapons. You should've thought it twice, Darkus Mors." Subaru dully replied.

"Why, you…! But don't think this is the end…"

"What?"

"Warp! HQ!"

The same phenomenon from a while ago happened and Darkus Mors vanished in front of Subaru's eyes: he gasped and looked around in total disbelief.

"What the heck's going on today?"

"So! B-B-B-Bertie~! Was that a diehard fan of yours?"

"Wha! Omega – san!"

"So?"

"No, sir! He was a Dealer agent under the direct employ of King, sir! He wanted information on the Subspace, sir!"

"An agent of the _dethroned_ King, eh? Are ya sure it wasn't Solo with a heavy makeover, B-B-B-Bertie~?"

"No, sir! His name is Darkus Mors, sir!"

The guy struck as being over one meter and eighty tall.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed calm and concentration while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

He was currently standing behind Subaru and had a broad grin across his face.

"Omega… Stop doing stupid things, will you?" A man sighed over a radio channel.

"Yo! Dr. Who IV! Kami – sama guided us to B-B-B-Bertie~ and told us he was in a little pinch! So we came to the heavenly rescue, see~! Heh, heh, heh!" Omega laughed.

"What "kami – sama"? The chip implant let me know! I'd just finished reading Akatsuki's report on what happened a while ago and the alarms went off. Luckily Boss is still on his room reading a book because I told him to take a rest now that Tabuu is no longer a trouble and that we've yet to locate that bothersome trio." The man grumbled.

"Dr. Lartes, sir… Eh, no… Master. What happened to Misora – chan? Did this guy break into her house or what, sir?"

"Correct. She turned the thing around after she gave him enough info to have him give up before trying but escaped in a manner reminiscent of the "Kamikakushi" device which had belonged to Mu. I was about to call you to see if you could go find Burai and talk to him over this topic but then I got a warning that you were in a pinch." Dr. Lartes replied.

"Like Watson over there said, B-B-B-Bertie~, Uncle Omega came to save your hide from Solo's little games!" Omega grinned.

"You're impossible, Omega! You don't learn the lesson ever after being totally shut down for whole days inside of the capsule, either? Be serious already! I don't mind Solo's little games because they don't involve a "serious" tone to them! Say something smart!"

"That guy's HQ has to be somewhere in Hong Kong!"

"Somewhere in Hong Kong, you say? Why?"

"'Cause it's the least obvious place, ya see…"

"By all the… That doesn't have any logic!"

"Then call for Holmes IX to figure it out!"

"Holmes never married!"

"Or Watson IX."

"Watson IX? Don't make me laugh! Watson never got to the level of Holmes which is outright said in the very same stories!" Dr. Lartes was getting pretty annoyed by now.

"Oh well. Maybe we should say King is a dethroned Emperor Palpatine, Dr. Magical?" Omega grinned.

"By all the… Don't bring that name up! It's a taboo for Boss."

"Ops. Sorry. I meant Darth Si…" He began.

"SHUT THE TRAP UP!" Dr. Lartes roared.

"Ops. Yell Man came, B-B-B-Bertie~!"

"Very funny, sir." Subaru drily replied.

"Come on, come on… And what if we went to a date together in Roppondo Hills and had a look at their newest exhibit: "Crazy Doodles of the 21st Century", B-B-B-B-Bertie~?"

"Please stop with that unnecessary nickname, sir! I am Hoshikawa Subaru, sir! "Albert" was another identity I had back when "Operation Independence", sir!" Subaru protested.

"Are ya sure it ain't your evil cousin who lives in Madagascar?"

"I have no cousins in Madagascar, sir!"

"Omega…! Come back here immediately!" Dr. Lartes ordered.

"Roger, Grand Moff…"

"Stop with the taboo names!"

"Tab – chan's names?"

"Grah! Stop with the forbidden names!"

"Ah. For a moment I thought ya were talking about Tabby!" Omega laughed and glanced at Subaru-

"Tabuu! I know it sounds like the English "taboo" but you have to write it down using _katana _and two "u" sounds! And read it as a Japanese word instead of English!" Dr. Lartes exasperatedly corrected.

"Roger, Admiral Nelson!"

"This guy…! Anyway! Subaru! Ask Akatsuki for the details. We'll start to try to hunt King. Maybe he's arrogant enough to think that we won't be searching Noise Waves." Dr. Lartes told him.

"Roger, Master!"

"Master of mastering masters?" Omega joked.

"Jeez!" Subaru protested.

"Did ya say something, Bert?"

"No, sir! Please go back, sir!"

"Are ya pleading to me~?"

"No, sir! I am asking a request out of you, sir!"

"Ya sound like a lawyer's apprentice~!"

A purple round gateway suddenly formed behind Omega and sucked him inside before closing: Subaru sighed in relief.

"Master had to forcefully pull him away from here and back into the Subspace HQ… Lovely." He muttered.

"Yo! Playing ghost-buster, Subari~?" War Rock asked as he suddenly showed next to him with a grin.

"No, War Rock. And stop with the Nickname War. Go figure out why Ophiucus was feared even by Ox from Cygnus." Subaru drily shot back with obvious annoyance.

"From the feathers jerk? I'll rip each and every one of that guy's fake feathers! And then invent the _Featherless Swan Lake!_ Nyah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

Subaru ignored him and ran outta the store to leave War Rock to leave at his silly jokes: he sat down on the bench and examined the box where he'd put the stuff he'd picked outta Mors.

"… Wait. The backpack… Something was there… A spheroid or something similar…? Spheroid… That reminds me of the "Other Future" which opened up the "Reverse World" ruled by Apollon Flame… And now I remember both the guy and that Auriga General were Denpa Bodies using an Erand, the Mu Continent soldiers, as proxy body to perform Denpa – Henkan on their own… The Denpa Bodies Yeti, Brachio and Condor did that, too, given how they no longer had human hosts… So we don't know the core form of "Apollon" and "Auriga"…" Subaru muttered.

"Heh, heh, heh… I'm the world's ruler!"

"War Rock. Stop meddling around."

"Surprised, Subari~?"

"Not at all. Let's go home. I need to finish up my homework."

"Did ya know Gonta hasn't even begun it and _iinchou_ has ordered that no one help the guy outta his mess?" War Rock teased.

"It doesn't surprise me." Subaru countered as he quickly walked up towards his home.

"Oh yeah! I called for yer Bahamas Cousin."

"I have no cousins!"

"Who knows? Maybe Futaba is your long-lost cousin?" War Rock suddenly taunted.

"NO!"

"Wanna bet?"

"NO!"

"Wanna make Akatsuki run the DNA check on the guy?" War Rock taunted next.

"They had to run it on him when he was found abandoned! But somehow they didn't locate his parents. They weren't registered. Whatever! His facial traits and his green hair are enough proof." Subaru growled.

"Ya never know, College of Charleston!"

"I do. End of the story."

"Nope! There's still an epilogue, ya see~!"

Subaru fumed and increased his pacing: he opened his house's door and slammed it shut in front of War Rock who merely chuckled and shrugged before turning away and grinning as if facing an imaginary audience off-screen.

"This thing's 'bout to turn hotter!"


	3. Chapter 3: Wartorn

**Chapter 3: War – torn**

08:08 AM (Kuwait Time), Tuesday September the 7th…

"… So! I've finally come here. The Geothermal Power Plant which supplied energy to a large part of this old nation now in shambles after a bloody war with its neighboring nations for the control of the geothermal resources…"

Darkus Mors walked into a ruined and desolate building which was still largely intact yet remains of a bloody battle could be seen scattered all around the building: most of it looked burnt out and scorched and some parts of the walls, ceiling or floor had actually melted.

"Heh! To think they were arrogant enough to open up the heat extraction pipes and let the heat flush out to burn everything out… That was 15 years ago, they say. And this plant plus its surrounding administrative district have been abandoned ever since then…" He muttered.

He shrugged and checked a set of schematics which had some scribbling in the margins plus a red "X" symbol marking something.

"Heh! So it was here, as I thought."

He began to walk forward and calmly looked around: he stopped to check what looked like a mortar which had partly melted: he lifted it and checked it with some interest.

"Oho. They call this a mortar, eh? A weapon to shoot a projectile from inside of a defended position without having to be exposed to enemy fire… Ain't this amusing? 80 mm… Not bad. _This age'_s weapons are so varied and all have been improved over the course of wars but this is still rather crude so as to simplify mass production and easy deployment by raid troops… And the squad of the Satella Police to which those guys belong is named the "Raid Troop"… Ironic, ain't it? I guess Akatsuki didn't think of the connotations when coining the name!"

He laughed and tossed it asides before picking up a half-broken AKs-47u from nearby a rather burnt out skeleton: he examined it as well as if he wanted to study its functionality.

"One of the most over-copied and used weapons… They say it's a largely well assembled weapon. I have been fortunate, really! To be able to explore this intriguing age where the "Denpa" technology has become dominant… So the Mu jerks got what they wanted yet they ended up losing their so-precious Ra Mu! The Ra Mu which _that tribe'_s warriors managed to subdue by sealing his power in the 3 OOPArts…! But the Mu jerks picked them up and used them as keys for the continent's seal as well!" Mors muttered while sometimes bringing up a slight foreign accent to his voice.

He discarded that and looked at the skeleton without being impressed at all before shrugging and keeping on forward.

"What better place to study modern warfare than an old battlefield undisturbed ever since 15 years ago? But I didn't come here just to study weaponry. I've got something important to find. Something which those Mu jerks concealed here… This used to be a shrine but when this land was overrun by the local tribes they demolished it yet they were unable to enter the sacred chamber deep below it… The Mu Continent jerks… Were they really _that_ afraid of _that artifact_ to the point they bothered to do this? They didn't have access to their precious Ra Mu or their continent yet they were strong enough to bring down _our kingdom_. That bothersome traitor had to tell them about it… But that traitor was slain in the battlefield and didn't get to loot our kingdom… Served the traitor well, I'd say!" He muttered as he began to sound annoyed.

He fumed and then stopped to check a room looking like a hallway with several doorways and destroyed elevator tubes plus staircases: he brought up the blue prints.

"The ground floor rooms were all administrative rooms… The machinery was in the 1st floor. I'm in the south wing and what I look for is below the west wing. Let's head west, then."

He turned west and walked down another corridor which had a flamethrower weapon thrown in the middle of it: he kicked it apart without bothering to check it out and looked up the schematics once again to get his bearings.

"Hmmm… It's close to the western exit. There should be a wall which is different from the others in thickness. The ones who built this wanted to keep that chamber accessible nevertheless in case they could one day crack the mystery of how to get past the doors. Hah! I bet they tried using all kinds of brute force but that material is too thick and advanced to be fooled by brute force. Yet I know the way to open that!"

He grinned and began to knock on the walls until he spotted one which sounded hollow: he pressed it and it rotated upon a pivot to reveal stone staircases heading downwards.

"Bingo."

He climbed down the steps and walked down a stone corridor which was only lit by the glow of some fluorescent paint on the walls: he ended in front of a set of two tall and thick stone doors filled with Mu glyphs: he calmly studied them for a while.

"… "Ye who seek what is waiting inside. These doors shall stand for all eternity. To get inside, only someone capable of invoking the name of our God in our tongue shall be allowed inside. This is but one of five shrines we built across the world to hide a terrific power. What is inside alone shan't provide anything of worth. Only someone who can actually gather the five pieces and then bring them to the Chamber of Rites in our Mu Continent will be able to assemble them back and awaken the forbidden power. Those who try to attack these doors will be met with failure. Ye have been warned, oh traveler." … Hah! As expected of them. But I'm fortunate! I know the password and I'll eventually figure how to get inside of the sunken Mu Continent, too. What a disgrace, you bunch of fools!"

He laughed aloud and suddenly closed his eyes as he held out his right hand's index and middle finger to then place his left hand's index and middle finger atop them: he then muttered something.

"… _Kranos arkanos Ra Mu ekos muaras!" _He muttered in what sounded like an ancient language.

Something hummed nearby and an Erand soldier formed in front of the gates: Mors gasped.

"… _Ikanos uganos eras motios_?"

"Who goes there, ya jerk ask? Your doom! Lost Orb! Execute Battle Program!" Mors grinned.

He rummaged into his backpack and took out a spheroid-like object made of circuitry boards covered by a transparent plastic-like material: the object glowed with purple light and began to form arcs of electricity around it.

"Die."

The orb's electrical arcs latched into the Erand soldier and electrocuted it before it was deleted: the doors then slowly creaked inwards and revealed a chamber having a small pedestal atop which laid the SW quarter of a sphere colored red and having a similar design to the "Lost Orb" he currently held on his hands: it looked totally clean and new despite its antiquity.

"This thing can work using atmospheric Denpa and forms a static field protecting it from the passage of time and from fungus. I found one of the four already… Let's pick it and be on way to pick the next one! Soon… The Ultimate Power will be awakened!"

He picked the piece with his left hand and examined it from several angles before attaching it to the "Lost Orb" thus making some small support pivots deploy from inside the piece's edges and insert into some slots carved in the SW quarter of the spheroid.

"Heh, heh, heh! Not bad."

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!" A voice rang out.

Mors turned around to see another two Erand soldiers and he looked somewhat annoyed.

"Sheesh…! The persistent watchdogs of Mu… These bothersome proxy bodies! Flame Power: Execute! Awaken from your slumber! Deity of Flames: Gaeusou! Unleash your power in these fools who shunned your honor! Let them be incinerated!" Mors chanted.

A hologram of a hawk-like animal having a tail of flames and a crown of flames formed and beat its wings: the Erand Soldiers began to burn with purplish flames and they were deleted: another two formed.

"By all the…! They weren't taking security lightly."

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!_"_

"… "Intruder, Thief, Looting, Punishment, Death", huh… That's what'll happen to you lowlifes! Out of the way! Open a path, Gaeusou!"

The hawk suddenly turned around and looked down (literally) upon Mors as if questioning his commands.

"_Aganos setou makeou!_" Mors shouted.

The hawk faced the enemies again and suddenly shot forward: the Erand soldiers caught fire again and Mors ran out at top speed until he was outside and into the corridor: he panted and leant his back against the wall.

"Phew. Luckily I remember the password for continuous usage of his program… "Let thy enemies be incinerated and illuminate the land"… But, really… The incantation to open the door… "All began in chaos and Ra Mu brought balance along"… Don't make me laugh. An artificially created deity brought balance along? Hah! Balance was formed on its own after countless eras once the Big Bang happened…" He muttered.

He suddenly heard a mechanical noise and sharpened his ears: he picked a grenade from his belt and got it ready.

"That noise… It ain't a Mu device. It's something modern. A repulsing engine, then…? Or should I say hover engine… Hover… But who apart from me would care to come here? This area is cordoned off and I could only come in because I knew the exact coordinates and the "Lost Orb" helped me warp here…" He muttered.

"… Hmpf! Nothing worthy… The world is so boring! That's why I have to rule it and make sure to exploit its resources for my own profit! Just you wait, Akatsuki! I'll destroy you lowlife sooner or later…"

Mr. King suddenly came into view and Mors grinned: he leapt out of the unlit corner he'd been hiding at and deliberately stepped into the middle of his way.

"Hiya~… Been a while, Boss." He greeted with obvious sarcasm.

"You lowlife! But you died!" He gasped.

"Died? Me? Nope! I got recycled."

"Recycled…? By all the…! That base's owners…! They've turned you lowlife into their pawn!"

"Yessir. But I don't care. It's way funnier than your pointless Mafia imitation, Godfather." He taunted.

"You lowlife… Laughing at me?" King cursed.

"Who knows? Ask Dr. Watson IX."

"You're tearing my patience!"

"Too bad, Bossy."

"You lowlife… Do you know the price of betrayal?"

"Yeah. But your silly laser cannons are useless against me as long as I have my ace-in-the-hole here… _Kusuu!_"

"What? Kusuu? That's you lowlife's ace-in-the-hole name?"

"No. I merely said "descend"."

The hawk formed in the corridor and its eyes now shone with a golden light: King gasped and recoiled while the hawk directed a hostile glare at him.

"T-that ain't a materialized Denpa Body…! It's a hologram!" He realized with obvious surprise on his voice.

"Yeah, I know. But it can materialize its attacks yet this makes it invincible unless you could kill the process by hacking into my "Lost Orb" yet its defenses are at the maximum." Mors grinned.

"You lowlife… What are you plotting?"

"Ask my CO."

"Hmpf! I see. You lowlife are being formed into an elite agent… And they must be aiming to use you to overthrow their government in a _coup d'état_!" King realized.

"Bravo." He made some sarcastic clapping.

"_Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"What was that?"

"Oh. By all the… What persistent watchdogs!"

A squad of ten Erand soldiers blew out the wall and surrounded both King and Mors while the hawk hovered in the air and looked around without being concerned.

"The watchdogs of this place… Maybe you know 'bout them?" Mors introduced with a smug smile.

"Aren't these those Mu Continent soldiers that showed up in Roppondo Hills back before the continent itself was unsealed?" King seemed to recognize them.

"Correct. They're saying this: "Intruders! Thieves! Looting! Punishment! Death!"… Guess what is gonna happen?"

"They want to kill us… You lowlife… How can you understand them and what have you done to set them on us?"

"How can I understand them? That's my pro secret. And what I did to set them on us? I retrieved a little something stored here but I didn't guess they took security so seriously! I guess I'll have to get outta the next one quicker." He sounded unimpressed.

"_Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"So I leave you to handle them. Lost Orb! Warp! HQ. See ya, Bossy, and beware of the Ebola!"

The phenomenon from the other day happened: the white circle gave way to the blurry image and Mors sank inside of it before it vanished and the Erand soldiers suddenly began to hit King with the swords plus shooting beams at him.

"You lowlifes! Lay your hands off me! Noise Wave, Open! I'm off this cursed place! Have at you!"

A Noise Wave opened and King quickly ran inside before it closed and the Erand soldiers began to deploy around the facility: the sound of footsteps rang out and the soldiers ran forward.

"_Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"Huh? Oh, no… Security… Huh? Mu soldiers…? Eh… Wait, wait. Did you see Darkus Mors? I'm looking for him… My name's Blood Shadow, you see… Huh… Hello? Can you understand me?"

"_Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

Blood Shadow looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"Huh… Hello? Can't you speak in Japanese?" Blood Shadow asked.

"I don't think so." A man muttered over his radio.

"What should I do, Boss?"

"If they're hostile…"

The soldiers began to shoot and attack Blood Shadow who was trying to kick or punch them away while grumbling.

"Correction: dispose of them."

"Roger! Charged shotgun shot!"

Blood Shadow loaded his shotgun and placed the barrels in the chest of one of the Erands thus piercing it and blowing it up: he then drew a Sword Fighter X Battle Card and began to cut and slice another six of them before jumping into the air and falling back while delivering a powered kick at yet another Erand's face and toss him into the ground.

"So! Who wants more?"

"_Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"Che. Guess they're so stupid that they can only follow pre-programmed orders… And I suspect Darkus Mors _has_ been here. That warp signature was his, after all. Maybe he found something related to Mu and looted it so he's set these guys off?"

"Weird. What could they find in this place? It was built just 39 years ago, ya know. And before that this was a small village with barely 400 inhabitants named Kun'en Khal." His superior replied.

"Has Subaru – kun contacted Burai?"

"Yeah. He said it rang a bell somewhere but he had to check it out with an elder he knew. He looked in the mood to cooperate."

"Good. Let me finish up these two and I'll try to see if I can find any hints of what he came to look for here, of all places."

"Roger."

"Take this! Impact Cannon!"

Blood Shadow's attack blew up the remaining Erand Soldiers and he quickly found the broken wall.

"Aha-hah!"

He descended downstairs and looked around the chamber while his shades glowed with a pale reddish light during the process.

"Yeah. Someone has been here and I'd stake it hasn't even been 30 minutes yet."

"Crap. I've picked up another warp signature from about 7 minutes ago, too, which mean he did get outta there already. Pull out, Blood. We need to organize."

"Roger."

"Roger – chan came to visit, Brad Shad?" Omega asked over the radio all of a sudden.

"No, Sir Omega. I do not know him, sir."

"OMEGA!"

"Ops. Vader and Sidious' disciple came."

"Stop with the forbidden names already and move your legs to the VR Room!"

"Sure, _Darth Vadous_."

"OMEGA~!"

The sound of footsteps running away over metallic ground echoed over the radio and Blood Shadow slapped his face in defeat while he ran outta the room and outside of the building through the west exit: he then looked up towards the scorching sun for a split second and then witnessed the tall concrete walls surrounding the building's perimeter.

"…This guy…! I'm about to lock him again by removing the power core!"

"I'd say we'd end up benefitting, even." Blood Shadow ventured.

"YIKES! Boss! Omega placed a mouse-trap in my room's desk drawer!"

"What! In your room, Kir Osh? I'm about to explode! OMEGA~!"


	4. Chapter 4: Jungle

**Chapter 4: Jungle**

02:08 AM (Brazil Time), Tuesday September the 7th…

"… Jeez. What was the Chief thinking of when he handed this mission to me? It's 2 AM here! In the midst of the jungle and there's a cliff nearby, too! And it's already 2 PM in Japan! I should be having lunch by now, but no~… They wanted me to investigate some rumor about a mysterious artifact hidden behind two doors which no – one has ever been able to open, ya see~!"

"Shidou. Calm down."

"That's easy for ya to say, Acid!"

"Getting nervous won't help you."

"Here comes Mr. Perfect to tell me I'm doing it all wrong!"

"Don't be so sarcastic."

Acid Ace was walking up along a tropical jungle somewhere and didn't look amused at all: he was using his default Long Sword to cut through some vines and weeds as well while generating light to see the path he was walking through: the terrain made a noticeable climb and he was already panting.

"By all the… Does this hill never end?"

"300 meters to target."

"Still 300 meters! It'll take me hours at this rate! Forget regulations and caution: I'm sick of this place already! Wing Blade!"

"Shidou!"

Acid Ace used his thrusters to shoot forward and he ended up exiting at the base of a mountain where some steps had been cut into the rock: he jumped over them and spotted an archway signaling the entrance of a small tunnel heading inwards.

"Here! Let's check it out."

He walked down the corridor and stumbled upon the stone doors plus the remains of some animals and persons: he gasped and touched the doors while examining them from several angles.

"… _Ikau euto mokaa_?" A voice asked.

"Huh? A native…?"

"Analyzing… The intonation suggests an ancient idiom."

"Mu Language?"

"… It seems to be a slightly degraded variant of it, true. It would seem the doors contain some kind of guard system which must be deactivated with some kind of password."

"Try some of those glyphs Rock Man found in the Mu Continent and which were needed to stop the soldiers or opening doors…"

"Roger. Accessing database… _Phon, Val, Ebeshi, Maasa_."

"… _Kakuei neeaa uoguos!"_

"What?"

"It would seem it rejected our attempt." Acid guessed.

"Try another combination!"

"Roger. _Phai, Rai, Shan, Tok_."

"… _Kakuei neeaa uoguos!"_

"Give it up. I think the password is different than the characters in the continent." Acid Ace sighed.

"Of course it is. The correct password is… _Kranos arkanos Ra Mu ekos muaras_!" A voice replied.

"… _Oubei keera Ra Mu idos_!"

"Thanks, Acid."

"I didn't say that. There's someone behind us."

"What? Darkus Mors!"

"Surprised, Akatsuki?"

Acid Ace turned around to see Darkus Mors and his hawk-like deity hologram standing behind him.

"H-how could you know the password?"

"Pro secret. The door first asked: "Do ye know the Word?"… Then it shouted twice "This is not the Word!" … And the password means… "All began in chaos and Ra Mu brought balance along"… The door replied with "May the day in which Ra Mu awakens happen soon!" … But I'm afraid I'll have to leave you to handle the watchdogs." He translated.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!_"_

A squad of Erand Soldiers was deployed and they focused on Acid Ace while Darkus Mors ran into the chamber and picked the NE corner of a spheroid colored green.

"Earth Program! The Deity of Earth… Sunaae!" He laughed.

He fused the segment with the main spheroid and his grin grew wider as if he felt excited.

"Sunaee! Destroy the filth of Mu! Let them be swallowed into the Land to never emerge again! _Keiuna agoos meanda!_ Infuse life to the Land and be revered! Input password!" He exclaimed.

"What the heck?" Acid Ace wondered as he tried to fend off the Erand soldiers.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!_"_

"I think that they are insulting us." Acid deduced.

"More like labeling you guys. "Intruders! Thieves! Looting! Punishment! Death!" is what they're saying." Mors laughed.

"Lovely." Acid Ace sarcastically muttered.

"Loading complete! Meet Sunaee!"

A tiger with an armor composed by earth and stone and having emerald eyes formed on the corridor and roared: it suddenly forward while forming large stones which flew across it and hit the soldiers: Mors snuck past Acid Ace and laughed while Acid Ace tried to fend the remaining Erand soldiers off somehow.

"Grah! Bothersome meddling guys!"

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!_"_

"Shaddup! Wing Blade~!"

He shot forward and ran them over while catching up to Mors, who gasped and looked over his right shoulder: he missed the steps and rolled down them before ending on the ground while still clutching the "Lost Orb" with both hands: he groaned and stood up to run away but Acid Ace showed up in front of him.

"No more games, Mors! Where's King?" He questioned.

"Maybe if you look around Kuwait you'll find the guy…" Mors shot back with a smug smile.

"Kuwait? So he picked a remote place to shake us off… And what the heck is that hologram?"

"They are holograms, true! But their attacks can materialize. They are deities of old! Deities which are sworn enemies of Ra Mu and the whole Mu civilization…!" He exclaimed.

"… This is starting to sound weirder with every passing day. How can you know the Mu idiom and translate on the spot and what are these programs or how to execute them? And the way you just talked about King sounded like you don't want to have anything to do with him, either, Mors. Just who are you?" Acid Ace questioned.

"Check the Burning Guerilla's base in the Bermudas and maybe ya will figure it out, Holmes." He taunted.

"Hand that toy over. You're under arrest for loitering, threatening Satella Police members and illegal weapon possession."

"You fool! Dare to challenge two deities? Then so be it, fool of this foolish era! Be burnt and buried! Go! Scorching Flames! Roar of the Land! Destroy all enemies which oppose your return to full glory!" Mors suddenly laughed and his foreign accent turned prominent.

The hawk took off and began to fly around Acid Ace and the tiger began to circle him as if being about to leap at him: Mors ran into the jungle in the meanwhile and became out of sight.

"Let's go! Wing…!"

"Kya~h!"

"Grrrrr!"

The hawk suddenly dived and flew _through_ Acid Ace while bathing him on purplish flames while the tiger hit the ground with the tail and opened a fissure which began to swallow Acid Ace but he managed to latch into the edge while yelling curses aloud.

"W-Wing Blade~!"

His Wing Blade allowed him to jump out of the fissure, roll across the ground to put the flames out and dash into the jungle only to be chased by the two deities: he cursed under his breath but he had to suddenly halt as he reached a cliff which was so tall that the bottom end was hiding by a thick white fog: he looked at the right to see a hanging rope bridge some meters away which Mors was slowly crossing over as if not wanting to risk crossing it running.

"Mors! This isn't over yet!"

"What the… What a persistent guy! _Kuuo mekios ageos_! Unleash your might into them!"

"Shidou. One comment… The commands from Mors to the programs aren't Mu language: the phonetic structure is slightly different but it doesn't seem to be a dialect, either. It rather sounds similar to some of the languages spoken nowadays in the Burma, Thailand and Vietnam regions. It could be a predecessor." Acid detailed.

"Save the idioms lesson for later, Acid! We gotta stop this guy somehow, ya know! Any ideas on how to disable these bothersome holograms, though?"

"Not sure… The source of them seems to be the orb but they seem to be limited in the distance… Maybe if we let Mors run away for a minute or two the signal will become weaker and they won't be able to come up with the materialized attacks." Acid suggested.

"Or, rather, we try to pick the orb thing from Mors. Let's go! Wing Blade~!"

He shot over the cliff and landed on the other side just as Mors finished crossing the bridge: Acid Ace then aimed his gun and shot some quick shots at the "Lost Orb" which were repelled by a bluish energy shield, to his surprise: Mors laughed at it.

"You fool! Did you fool think such a foolish attempt would really work on our craft? What a fool! Be gone!" He suddenly spoke in another tone of voice which had a more marked foreign accent.

"That accent sounds similar to the language he was speaking earlier which may be because Japanese is a foreign language to him…"

"So he isn't from Thailand, then?"

"The accent doesn't match."

"I do not know what you fools are talking about but I do not have a necessity to be knowledgeable! Oh great deities! Descend upon this accursed land and purge it! The blood flowing through me is proof of my identity! Let us complete the Oath!" He chanted.

He laughed and ran away yet Acid Ace jumped over a small hill and landed in front of his path: he didn't seem to care as the hawk suddenly bathed Acid Ace in purplish flames again and he ran past him and down the path towards a nearby esplanade where he stopped and held the "Lost Orb" over his head.

"You lose, fool! Farewell!"

"Wait!"

Acid Ace rolled down the path but was unable to reach Mors in time as he did the warping effect and vanished from the scene: he growled and clenched the right fist in frustration.

"Hello? Akatsuki?" Vadous called out through the radio.

"Vadous?"

"I heard you were in Brazil, so I wanted to…" He began.

"Too late." Acid Ace sighed.

"Huh? Ah! He's been there already?"

"Yeah. But he behaves very oddly."

"Behaves oddly?"

"He knows Mu Idiom and another idiom plus he can create some kind of "deities" from the segments he adds to his "Lost Orb" which are holograms that cannot be attacked but they can attack you using materialized attacks. And he sometimes speaks like he was a guy living in another era. What do you make out of it?"

"… The segments he adds to his "Lost Orb", you say?"

"They look like quarters of a sphere. Insofar he has a red one for the SW corner and a green one for the NE corner. And the color seems to match the element of the "deity"… He uses a flame-type one and an earth-type one as well… A hawk on flames plus a tiger having earthly armor… What's your take?"

"Hmmm… According to Burai and the elder he visited, there are another two segments scattered in the other continents… One is somewhere in Australia and the last one somewhere in the edges of Sharo Nation. Burai sounded surprised how the elder told him to be wary of this "Lost Orb" because the ancient Mu people were actually _afraid _of it yet they were unable to destroy it."

"Lovely." Acid Ace grumbled.

"Yet… Given Mors' behavior… I'd say he's actually aiming for something else… And that he's working for his own interests. Maybe he's actually Burai's equivalent for the civilization which fabricated these items yet their name seems to have been lost to time…"

"Burai's equivalent… The last descendant or a descendant trying to retrieve these artifacts for their sake… Hmmm…"

"I'd say you come back before the Erand Soldiers find you. Blood Shadow had a hell of a time in Kuwait shaking them off."

"Roger. Let's go back, Acid. I wanna have a nap."

"Given how we have already checked out the cave, then I see no trouble to consider our mission to be completed by now."

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"Oh. Not again."

Twenty Erand Soldiers were rushing down the road and Acid Ace grumbled in totally annoyance.

"Che! Take these! Daba Flame X! Giza Wheel X! Wide Wave X! Stealth Laser X! Twin Lasers! Lock On! Long Sword! Long Sword!"

Acid Ace started by shooting out a stream of flames shaped like the Alphabet "T" letter followed by a spiked disc, a wide wave of water, some electrical shots, the two laser cannons he owned, and two slashes from Long Swords which dispatched half of the platoon.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"Stop calling me an intruder, a thief and saying I'm looting so you're gonna punish me by killing me." He grumbled.

"Shidou. Maybe if we use the Wave Road and set the Viruses on them we can stall for enough time to get away safely?"

"Possibly…"

"Don't worry. I'm bailing you outta there."

"Oh! True. Forgot ya were still on the channel… Use that portal thing and let's get outta here!"

"I'm on it… Now!"

Acid Ace jumped backwards into the purple portal which closed but did leave three Count Bomb X on the field which exploded and took the Erand Soldiers out of commission.

"Heh, heh, heh… Interesting! If only I could use these, then… I'd be able to defeat Rock Man for sure!"

Phantom Black suddenly showed up as he landed into the area from the Wave Road and looked amused.

"I've intercepted news that something interesting has happened in Kuwait and here, and it looks interesting! All that's left is to find how to control these things! Like I did back then!" He laughed.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

A platoon of thirty soldiers materialized next and he gasped: he barely had had the time to react when they all began to hit and attack him: he growled and tried to shake them off with the stick and his "Phantom Claw" attack.

"You idiotic actors! How dare you attack the scriptwriter? You're all fired, you lowlifes! I am the scriptwriter! This ain't in my _scenario_! Be gone, bunch of fleas! I am in charge! Die! Be deleted! Vanish into the Afterworld! Gru~h!" He roared.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!"

"Shut the hell up! I'm invincible! I'm the almighty and grand Phantom Black! Phantom! Tell these idiots to halt already! Aren't you a Denpa Body from Mu to begin with? Well then! Tell me what they say!"

"Eh… "Intruder, thief, looting, punishment, death!"…" Phantom translated.

"WHA~T? WHAT MISERABLE PLEBEIANS!"

"Eh… Soldiers aren't plebeians, Hyde…"

"Shaddup!"

"Sorry, sorry!"

"Tell them to halt!"

"Eh… I'll try. But my Mu Idiom is a bit… rusted. So don't be surprised if they don't catch it." Phantom warned.

"Whatever!"

"Eh… _Zul! Maasa! Mil! Phai! _Stop! Ally! Friend! Halt!"

"… _Nyoo gee saa?_" One of them asked.

"What?" Phantom Black questioned.

"Eh… "On whose authority?"…" Phantom translated.

"Tell them your name!" Phantom Black ordered.

"_Neaa Phantom gree Ra Mu innero assie_! I am Phantom, serving the great Ra Mu!" He announced.

"… _Meounaa yuudee ageen_."

"Eh… "Authority acknowledged and confirmed."…"

"Good! Tell them to leave but be ready to be summoned again! Say this command comes from the very top!" Phantom Black grinned.

"Ahem, ahem… _Nyoosai! Egou! Niotte Ra Mu issaten aeyou! Zadou! Karanaka?_ Retreat! Standby! Ra Mu wishes so! Move! Gotcha?"

The Erand Soldiers turned around and began to leave while Phantom Black rubbed his hands in excitement.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! It'll be like that scene on the TK Tower cinema again… But now that Rock Man doesn't have an OOPArt, then the guy won't be able to stand up to the Erand Soldiers! You lowlife's end is forthcoming! Rock Man!" Phantom Black laughed.

Phantom sighed in defeat while Phantom Black spread his arms wide and looked eager…


	5. Chapter 5: Rushing it up

**Chapter 5: Rushing it up**

16:45 PM (Sydney Time), Tuesday September the 7th…

"… Hmpf. So this is Sydney… A vain metropolis who fought a war to be free from colonialism yet they became new colonialists upon oppressing the local tribes! What fools…! I laugh at such foolishness!"

Darkus Mors was walking down an alleyway somewhere in Sydney and he looked amused: he was speaking using his foreign accent again and kept looking over his right shoulder.

"Yet! I'm surprised that Blood Shadow knew that I was in Kuwait. Maybe Vadous has found out how my "warp" works of picked up the energy signature…? It could be. So he must already know I'm here by now. I don't mind: let someone try and stop me! My target is close by!"

He checked a vulgar apartment building and then looked around the ground nearby it by tapping it until he noticed a section which sounded somewhat hollow: he put on what looked like purple-colored glasses with some devices built on the sides of them.

"Hah! I knew it! There are remains of the original Mu glyphs here which didn't vanish totally when they built this area! Heh, heh, heh. Let's see what they say… Eh… "Ye who seek the forbidden fruit forever sealed away… This piece alone has the power to summon a deity of the waters and oceans which can ravage the land. Yet it alone won't help you. Unless ye find the central "Orb" then ye shan't progress. The elders have spoken." Hah! But I already have it and two of four pieces. Too bad! Your failsafe systems are going down one after the other!"

He laughed and then cleared his throat as he repeated the finger gesture he'd done in Kuwait.

"…_Kranos arkanos Ra Mu ekos muaras_! All began in chaos and Ra Mu brought balance along!"

"… _Ra Mu ekeei yoe!_"

"Glory to Ra Mu, eh?"

A slab on the ground opened and Mors calmly descended into the stone corridor which he walked until he found the open doors and he spotted the SE quarter of a sphere colored blue: he quickly made it fuse with the "Lost Orb" and looked at the almost complete structure.

"And when it's complete… I will paint it over with a mix of black and white to create a "twilight" tonality… It will be fitting… Heh, heh, heh. Anyway, let's get outta here before those bothersome watchdogs come here to hinder me." He laughed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Not so fast, brat! Hand over that thing and I'll spare you lowlife…"

"What?" He grumbled.

He turned around to see Phantom Black accompanied by various Erand soldiers: he had a broad smile on his face.

"Phantom Black? Ah. I see. Your Denpa Body is from Mu so he knows Mu idiom and the codes needed to command these loathsome watchdogs those elders placed to hinder my progress… But I don't care! I summon the Aqua Program! Deity of Water… Miawaa! Awaken! Join your brothers and rejoice! _Kinna eikyouu mazoo!_ Water for the Land and the crops! Here they come~!" Mors laughed.

"What!" Phantom Black gasped.

"That wasn't Mu idiom!" Phantom muttered.

A crocodile deity with armor made of ice and sapphire eyes appeared and opened the mouth to display teeth made of ice: the deity then summoned a tidal wave which washed Phantom Black and the Erand Soldiers away while Mors ran out, laughing.

"Why, you…! Chase him!"

"… _Sukeeiyo! Ra Mu einao!_ Chase him! Ra Mu commands!"

"… _Ryoukeei_. Roger."

"Go!"

Mors ran out into the streets and rummaged into the backpack to take out a gun with a hook set on its muzzle: he shot it towards a rooftop and the hook got stuck there: he pressed a button and the gun began to reel the line into the wire compartment thus helping Mors climb up into the rooftop and quickly hide behind some construction material which looked like it'd been forgotten there.

"… Where is he! You! Search for that guy! Thief!"

"_Zul_! Thief!" Phantom ordered.

"_Zul?_ _Kasee!_ Thief? Chase~!"

"Look in vain, imbeciles. I left no imprints while climbing upwards and I doubt their scanning abilities ranging that far." Mors muttered with a smug smile on his face.

"Freeze." A voice rang out.

He gasped and looked over his right shoulder to see Rock Man aiming a Mad Vulcan X at him accompanied by Blood Shadow.

"Rock Man…! Blood Shadow…!" He cursed.

"Huh? How do you know who I am? I'm not _that_ famous."

"Hmpf! Mr. King told me about you three."

"Sorry! We don't buy that. Akatsuki – san told us all about your encounter in Brazil. Are you the last descendant of that lost civilization?" Rock Man calmly guessed.

"… Yeah. I'm the same category as Burai." He admitted.

"We thought as much. And where in the world is the next piece? We can't work with just "near the eastern edges of Sharo Nation", ya see. Will you let out a hint?" Blood Shadow questioned.

"Hmpf. A drama composer will not reveal the end of the drama. Do you get my point?" He formed a smug smile.

"Yeah. Anyway… You're coming back with us, like it or not."

"There you are!"

Phantom Black and the Erand Soldiers landed on the rooftop and formed a circle around it: Rock Man and Blood Shadow cursed while Mors merely caressed the "Lost Orb" before running forward, jumping over an Erand Soldier, and landing in another rooftop.

"That jerk can wait. You lowlifes go first in my blacklist!" Phantom Black laughed.

"It's about to rain catastrophes." Blood Shadow suddenly signaled the sky with his left hand's middle finger.

"What?" Phantom Black gasped and looked upwards.

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"Mad Vulcan X!"

"Guo~h! You… lowlifes!"

Both used the chance to attack Phantom Black and they then jumped over him to chase after Mors: Phantom Black cursed and he began to chase them, too, followed by the Erand Soldiers.

"No! I won't let you lowlifes run! This is my golden chance! A _perfect scenario_ in which I defeat you lowlifes and become the almighty Phantom Black – sama~!" He roared.

"Sell that tale to Hollywood!" War Rock laughed.

"You lowlife…! Destroy them! Blood! I want to see blood!"

"If you mean me… Then have a look at this. Charged shotgun shot! Have at you, Hyde!"

Blood Shadow half-turned around and shot another shot at Phantom Black to push him backwards and then resume chasing: Phantom Black looked like he was getting pretty annoyed and kept on chasing them while brandishing his stick in a menacing manner.

"Not so fast!"

"Hyde… The Erand Soldier use Denpa Weapons. They cauterize wounds so there's no bleeding. You need something real." Phantom sighed.

"You lowlifes… Not so fast! I'll have your heads in a silver platter! And then I will be invincible~!"

"Try beating Omega – san's raw plasma rounds first!" Rock Man taunted with obvious annoyance at Phantom Black's persistence.

"Why, you…!"

"My, my. No good." Phantom sighed.

"Mors! Halt!" Rock Man commanded.

"You fool… You are to bow before me!" He suddenly announced in his foreign accent.

"Huh? As far as I know, you aren't the King of Thailand."

"Che! Spoke too much…!" He grumbled.

"Or are you a descendant from the ancient royal family?"

"No! I was playing emperor!" He shot back.

"That sounds like an improvisation. Hot, hot."

"Shaddup! Deities! Drown them! Scorch them! Make them be buried beneath the Land!" Mors chanted.

The hawk, tiger and crocodile formed and attacked by summoning purple flames, sharp knife-like rocks and a tidal wave: the two of them jumped to the left and right to dodge so Phantom Black got hit instead and fell into ground level: he cursed under his breath and stood up somehow before jumping back upwards.

"Not so fast! That's as far as you go~!"

"Give it up, Hyde… They're too fast."

"Shaddup! Shaddup!"

"No good, no good… Really…"

"Mors! Your petty plans end here!" Blood Shadow yelled.

"What?"

Blood Shadow suddenly warped and appeared in front of him while Rock Man closed in from behind: Mors halted and cursed as the three holograms seemed to doubt.

"I guess they're afraid of hitting you with us two being so close to you, Mors!" Rock Man grinned.

"Yeah. Give it up."

"There you are~! Die~!"

Phantom Black panted and stopped once he'd landed into the rooftop followed by the Erand Soldiers: Mors looked around and suddenly set his glare on Blood Shadow while frowning before forming a smug smile across his face.

"Hah!"

He signaled his face with the right hand's middle finger and Blood Shadow seemed to frown under his shades but he then brought the left hand to his forehead.

"Huh? I feel… weird. Wait… Foreign program in my Operating System detected…? What the heck is that? Huh… Huh? Huh… Ugh. It's slowing down some processes and speeding up the search engine… It's searching for something…! Ugh! It forcefully overrode permits and copied it to an external device… But what did it copy?" He muttered.

"… Blood! Do you have a special permit or something like that to enter the HQ which doesn't require check-up from the inside?" Rock Man suddenly deduced.

"Huh? Ah! You…!" Blood Shadow realized as he glared at Mors with obvious annoyance on his face.

"What?" War Rock asked.

"Hmpf!"

"You copied my access permits to the HQ from the Wave Road! But you can't do Denpa – Henkan, and that won't let you get in using a spaceship, either!" Blood Shadow grumbled.

"Hah… Hah… I'm recovered! Soldiers! Charge~!"

"Heh. Return, deities! Lost Orb! Wave of Oblivion!"

The holograms flickered and vanished: the orb then hummed as purple energy flew across the faces of it (save for the still missing NW quarter) and began to form a purple-colored ring around the middle section plus a vertical one: both rings then expanded and knocked down anything which came into contact with them: the orb then powered down and Mors laughed upon witnessing the knocked out group.

"What a group of foolish rebels! Rebelling against me is the same as rebelling against my great Father. Father! Thou shall not be put to shame by some meaningless rebels! Thou figure guides us and so have thou antecessors for eras! Light to us! Death to the rebels! One nation, one kingdom! Farewell! Warp!" He exclaimed as he looked up to the skies where dusk was starting to form.

He laughed and vanished from the scene while Rock Man and Blood Shadow groaned and managed to recover somehow: Phantom Black leant on a chimney and tried to stand up, too.

"The brat ran… Whatever! These will them where I can find that guy again, anyway… Now… I shall take both the Ace Program and whatever you imitator have for me and become invincible! Then I will defeat whoever stands in my way, too!"

"Dare to lay your hands on MY B-B-B-Bertie~ and you will get a beating up like never before." Someone announced.

"You lowlife…!"

"Sir Omega, sir!"

"Omega – san!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Mars Warrior has come!"

Omega had showed up out (standing atop a chimney) of the blue and Phantom Black gasped upon seeing how all the Erand Soldiers had been turned into pieces or were dismembered.

"W-what! The whole platoon…!"

"Yep. I was somewhat trigger-happy, ya see."

"WHAT are you lowlife?" He gasped.

"The "Dark Messiah", I always say…" He looked calm and was toying with an object looking like a sword hilt having a pyramidal base and rectangular handle colored white by tossing it into the air and catching it up as it fell downwards.

"Sir Omega, sir! Mors escaped, sir. We apologize, sir." Blood Shadow reported by saluting.

"And we need to know his next move, too." Rock Man added.

"Burai contacted me. He found an old stone table with a list of the locations which he's checked with current geography and has settled for a military base 14km NNW of Vladivostok. Good thing is that the time zone is the same one so no worries about the zone being in a nocturnal time –frame…" He calmly exposed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Then I'll go on ahead! Dramas always favor their writers!"

Phantom Black leapt into a Wave Road and fled while laughing aloud in a victorious tone of voice while Rock Man and Blood Shadow glanced at the destroyed robots.

"O. K.! So! B-B-B-Bertie~! Are ya and Brad Shad an official couple by now, or so Daniel Craig says?" He teased.

"No, sir!" Both protested.

"Heh! Dunno who Craig is but he hit the mark! These two do weird things at nighttime!"

"War Rock…!" Both grumbled.

"Heh! The Opposite Duo strike back!"

"Wha~t?" Both complained.

"Hello? Subaru? Blood? You two alright?"

"We are, Boss, yet…"

"Yet?"

"Sir Omega, Boss! He's back at it, Boss!"

"By all the… Omega! Didn't I tell you to destroy the Erand Soldiers and defeat Phantom Black?"

"The soldiers are sliced and diced by now but Phantom – chan ran towards Vladivostok to see if he finds Flint's treasure there."

"Flint's treasure? You mean the last piece of the "Lost Orb"! What are you sitting idle for? Go! Subaru, Blood! Come back here and I'll send Sigma there along with Hibiki. She wants a piece of the action and had the day free, so…" Vadous commanded.

"Roger!"

"Heh! Ya will show up on the news and Daigo will think you've proposed to Misora!" War Rock laughed.

"Dad isn't that silly. Now get serious."

"Yessir! Admiral War Rock strikes back!"

Rock Man rolled his eyes in exasperation along with Blood Shadow while Omega crouched and jumped into the Wave Road.

"I'll tell Hibiki ya want her to be your CO!"

"No way…" Rock Man groaned.

"Sir Omega…!" Blood Shadow cursed.

"Oho. I wanna see it happen!"

"You be quiet." Rock Man snapped.

Omega ran away along the Wave Road while the other two fumed: they didn't spot a figure looking at them from behind some of the disabled Erand Soldiers.

_Heh, heh, heh… So that guy's Rock Man… Hmpf! Let them fool around for a while… Master and I will one day make mincemeat of you lowlifes and when our employers' plan is executed then your foolish nation will be brought to its knees… Heh, heh, heh… Oh… I'm looking forward to make it so slowly painfully and delicious…! I want to hear their screams of agony before the silencing end! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!_

"… Hmmm?"

"What's wrong, Blood?"

"He spotted a candidate!"

"Oh. Shut up."

Blood Shadow had looked towards there and his shades glowed with a slight red glow but didn't seem to spot anything so he shrugged and turned around to speak with Rock Man.

"Nothing. My imagination, I guess. Let's go."

"Roger."

They jumped into the Wave Road to leave but the figure emerged from behind the wreck of another Erand Soldier.

_Heh, heh, heh. Master and I will form a perfect combination once my training is over. He is strict yet I owe my life to Him, ya see... Hoshikawa Subaru… I'll enjoy slowly inflicting pain into you before it turns into an unbearable agony and you lowlife beg of me to end it but that wouldn't be half-fun… It has to continue! Forever! Eternally! Until the end of Time Eternal, even! The excitement is building up on me… I need to return from this little scouting mission… I'll sharpen my blade… And one day I will use it to slowly drive you insane, Rock Man! But… Until Master commands me to do that I will be holding back… Mwah, hah, hah, hah!_

The figure laughed under its breath…


	6. Chapter 6: Bothersome proxies

**Chapter 6: Bothersome proxies**

18:18 PM (Vladivostok Time), Tuesday September the 7th…

"… There! The military base… Mors and Hyde are there!"

"Hyde & Mors: don't you think they'd make for an interesting lawyer office name?"

"Omega…!"

"Ops. Sir Omega, I think that…"

"Don't worry, Stigma Man. Boss doesn't bite."

"Sigma, sir!"

This guy was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently aiming at the floor in lazy manner.

"Whatever. I'm going on ahead." Harp Note shrugged.

"Grhxhjt! Huff! Just complete the mission and then we'll _talk._" Vadous hissed.

"Roger, _shachou_~!"

"Sir Omega…" Sigma rolled his eyes.

Harp Note ran towards the complex followed by the other two: a pair of soldiers suddenly appeared in front of the gates.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

"Japan Satella Police Raid Troop!" Harp Note announced.

"Collaborators of the Satella Police. We have a permit by the National Japan Satella Police Superintendent." Omega turned serious.

"Wow. The Raid Troop! I'd heard about them." One of the guards sounded surprised.

"So? What do you want?" The other asked.

"We're chasing two criminals who are targeting an object hidden somewhere in the perimeter… Tell me: have you ever found a stone tunnel which seemed to have been built way before this base was erected and which ended in two doors which nothing could open?" Harp Note asked of them.

"The Cursed Corridor, you mean? It's off-limits to all of us."

"Yeah. We had to set laser barriers once curious novices went down there and then somehow ended up as corpses."

"I guess they tried to force the doors."

"Huh? And what if? They were attacked by some kind of energy-based weapon, you see."

"But the doors have a built-in device which materializes programs to repel attempts at breaking in." Harp Note replied.

"Whoa! So that's why those incidents happened?"

"Yeah. But one of the villains actually knows the password and it'll most likely trigger off a swarm of those enemies which can be controlled by the second villain." Omega sighed.

"Uh-oh. Then we should tell the Division Commander, shouldn't we, Vladimir?"

"Guess so, Ivan…"

"What powerless fools! Your doom is approaching and you sit idle speaking just like it was a sword training day! Such foolishness, it makes me laugh at it! Witness! I have acquired it! The last part! Now all I need is one finishing touch… And I will have gained Ultimate Power!"

They all gasped and looked at a balcony over the entrance where Darkus Mors was standing and displaying how the "Lost Orb" had gained the last piece colored purple and which fitted in the NW corner: the hologram of a large dragon with purple scales to his wings and drawings of tornadoes across its blackish body was hovering behind Mors and glaring at the group with violet eyes.

"No good! We're too late!" Omega cursed.

"I have awakened the last of the Four Heavenly Kings: Keziee! He who guides soothing winds into our lands and is the prelude of the rainstorm which makes the people content… Now the Four Heavenly Kings are gathered once again! And once I put up the finishing touches, then I shall awaken the last hidden ability of the "Lost Orb"… You fools lose this conflict! Let the Four Heavenly Kings erase you fools from history like all those weak civilizations!" He exclaimed.

"That guy…!" Sigma grumbled.

"Not so fast, brat! This wasn't in my _scenario_ so I've rewritten it! My pawns will destroy those holograms and then I will take that power for me~!" Phantom Black laughed as he showed up on the rooftop of the base next with a squad of about 60 Erand Soldiers.

"Whoa!" The soldiers gasped.

"You fool! You who use a Denpa Body of Mu cannot decipher the ancient passwords! Only we of the Clan can do that! You fool may control those proxy bodies, yet they are nothing but simplistic Denpa Bodies! And the Four Heavenly Kings are not material! The "Lost Orb" had withstood for untold millennia! Such feeble attempts will not shed its secrets away, secrets which not even the Mu elders could decipher given all traps and fail-safes… All of our craft went into this!" Mors scoffed.

"Who gives? Go, my pawns!"

"_Kyashi_! Assault!" Phantom commanded.

"Let them be destroyed! Swirls of the Skies! Go! Annihilate them from this Land forever, Program of Winds, Master of Winds!"

The dragon roared and beat the wings before the drawings on its body began to glow and eight blackish tornadoes formed out of nowhere thus sucking the Erand Soldiers in and dispatching them at random around the surrounding 2 kilometers: Phantom Black gasped and looked around to see that none remained at his side.

"I-impossible!"

"Hah! Impossible, the fool says! Nothing is impossible for the four Heavenly Kings! They dictate the weather of the whole kingdom and answer to the prayers of the people! But you fools cannot realize it because you laugh at such concepts… Yet Ra Mu was real enough for being a "God", was it not?" He exclaimed.

"Che! Ra Mu was real! I saw it with my very own eyes when Dr. Orihime awoke it and began to generate countless Denpa Bodies!"

"Hmpf! So! You fools will persist on standing on our pathway. I have come up with something interesting for you to tackle. Darkloid Spark Man! Pit these against their miserable selves! And dispose of all witnesses! I have other matters to attend to." He announced.

"Hah! Calling on Spark Man – sama~!"

A figure showed up on the rooftop and then jumped into the air to land in front of the three fighters.

"I'm Spark Man! And I'm here to take the trash out!"

A dome-like shape formed over his upper body and below the head: the head was shaped like a circle and had orange armor over it plus a small tooth-like piece forming beneath the forehead and extending until the spot where a person's nose would be at: the head also had a metallic piece shaped like the "L" character turned 90º to the right so as to aim northwards.

His eyes' irises were red and he had no visible mouth:

His main body was shaped like a thick disc and colored orange with two yellow bands plus three layers of metallic armor running down the side.

A hollow circular line spread across the front face of it while having two green bulb-like objects set on it plus his emblem which consisted on two simplistic yellow lances crossing each other and set over a blue background.

His shoulders were orange-colored spheroids and his arms were colored navy blue: two orange cylinders were placed there the hands would be at thus allowing him to carry large metallic spears emerging from the front and short ones from the rear of each cylinder: the outwards-facing sides of the cylinders had yellow curved bands spanning their total length set on them.

The lower body was colored navy blue plus blue spheroids placed where the ankles would be at with legs spreading from them until the knees, where the boots began: a small yellow-colored piece which was reminiscent of the "L" character turned 90º to the left: it had a small navy blue dot set close to the upper edge of it.

His boots were colored orange and ended in round platform-like formations: the central band of it was colored yellow with three green-colored drawings starting at the upper edge and spanning until the lower edge: the disc-shaped platform-like feet were decorated with a small navy blue dot set on the front of them.

"Make Shadow!"

He suddenly intercrossed his spears and produced a sudden flash: the three fighters' shadows showed up behind them and suddenly gained solidity as they became black-and-white colored recreations of each fighter.

"Trash will fight trash. More trash will be generated. And then I take it out with a clean slash plus incinerating it! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! I'm genius, yessir!"

"Che! Demon Rings!"

"Hrah! O – Saber!"

"Shock Note!"

"While these pieces of trash fight their own trashy copies I'm off to silencing the powerless eyewitnesses!" He laughed.

"Get past me firstly, ugly."

"Wha~t?"

"Ah! Akatsuki – san!"

"Man! Acid Ace comes to the rescue!"

"Acid Disaster showed up!"

"Jeez. Stop with that joke."

Acid Ace had showed up behind Spark Man and he didn't seem amused at Omega's joke: he nevertheless aimed his gun at Spark Man's face but he looked unimpressed.

"Hah! More trash to take out. Make…!"

"Wing Blade!"

"Whoa~!"

"Jump!"

"Roger!"

Acid Ace rammed into Spark Man's body and pushed him downhill while the other three jumped into the air: Spark Man ran over the "shadows" thus destroying them and ended up falling off the side and into a water pond.

"Good! I've bid my chance… Now I'll finish you off!" Phantom Black laughed as he jumped down and landed in front of Acid Ace.

"Try it, Phantom of the Opera wannabe!" Acid Ace shot back with a cocky grin on his face.

"You've asked for it!"

"You lowlifes… I'm not dead yet!" Spark Man cursed as he jumped out of the pond and back into the access road.

"Then come." Omega taunted.

"Hah! Spark Whip!"

Spark Man intercrossed his lances again and shot a whip of electricity at Omega who dodged it and made a taunting gesture: a twitch showed up Spark Man's right eye and he rushed forward only to step into a Giga Mine Battle Card and be sent flying to land, hard, on the ground: before he could recover though, Omega plunged his pyramid-shaped green saber into his chest emblem.

"Groa~h!"

He suddenly exploded and Omega retrieved his sword before turning around to see Acid Ace fighting Phantom Black.

"Feel the despair, Satella Police! I have a terrific ace-in-the-hole which isn't these pawns! Soon your nation will be brought to its knees by superior powers! I don't care about those power games but I will get a chance to liquidate Rock Man once and for all!" Phantom Black boasted with a broad grin.

"… Hyde… You exaggerate things way too much… When will you learn to keep your trap shut and not boast in vain, anyway? This guy… He's troublesome, really…" Phantom sighed and sounded resigned.

"Your attacks are so predictable, really. Go home and leave us alone already." Acid Ace sounded bored and unimpressed.

"I will bury you here and now, Acid Ace! And that little girl goes next followed by those two!"

"Show me your shovel."

"Huh? What shovel?"

"Well! Don't you need a shovel to take out the earth and create a grave to begin with?" Acid Ace taunted.

"Why, you…!"

"Heh. Gotcha."

"Omega? I got some info from Burai. He's kept on pressing the elder for details on the "Lost Orb" and it'd seem Mors has to do a mandatory last stop: and guess where?" Vadous reported.

"The Mu Continent…" Omega deduced.

"Bingo. Burai is heading over here but you should go too in case Mors had more aces under his sleeves. Help Akatsuki take Phantom Black down and then…" Vadous began.

"Huh! So the snobby kid is at the Mu Continent, you say! And Solo will be there! Perfect! Two birds killed with one stone! Mwah, hah, hah! I'll accomplish my magnificent goal and the public shall know of my intelligence! I'll settle it with you lowlifes later on!"

"Oi! Wait! Hyde!"

Phantom Black jumped into the Wave Road and sped towards the Pacific Ocean while the other four sighed.

"I'll go." Acid Ace announced.

"Omega. Tag with him. Harp Note, Sigma. Come back here. I'm not sure yet what kind of power that "Lost Orb" has when fully completed but if the "Four Heavenly Kings" end up being so strong then we're already into trouble because I dunno how to beat a hologram." Vadous muttered with a hint of nervousness to his voice.

"Easy, _shachou_~!"

"Easy? Why?"

"Come up with the anti-hologram sword!"

"That's so silly…"

"Not really! If Dr. Z could invent it 66 years ago why can't we replicate it, too?" Omega sounded amused.

"66 years ago? 2139?" Acid Ace frowned.

"Huh… I dunno what happened. I didn't study that period."

"Of course nothing happened! This guy is making things up out of the blue again!" Vadous growled.

"Really…" Harp Note muttered with some annoyance.

"Let's go there already."

"Sir Omega…!"

"Did ya say something, Stigma Man?"

"OMEGA! The Nickname War stops here and now!"

"O. K. And Moon Ace will come as middle-man."

"Leave Moon Disaster and his silly mash-ups of popular songs into impossibly long "extravaganzas" alone. Go to the Mu Continent already and intercept Mors!"

"Roger, Grand…"

"STOP ANGERING ME ON PURPOSE~!"

Sigma and Harp Note jumped into the Wave Road and headed inland while Omega and Acid Ace headed towards the Pacific Ocean.

"Warning! Warning! Warning! Enemy fleet detected! Jump into Red Alert Mode! Bring out the donuts!" A voice warned over the radio.

"Moon Disaster. I know your accent. Stop messing around as well and go sing at the penguins." Vadous grumbled.

"YO, YO, YO! Not in the mood, _Danna_?"

"Not now and not ever. End of the story!"

"YO, YO, YO! Then listen to my little tale about…"

"Don't – anger – me." He icily warned while making a pause to breathe and then exhaled after the last word.

"… Yikes!"

"Guess there he goes." Harp Note muttered.

"Boss' "cold anger" mode… Scary." Sigma nervously muttered.

"… Say."

"Huh? What?"

"Don't you have the feeling we're being watched upon?"

"Eh… Dunno. I wasn't paying attention."

"Hmmm…"

Harp Note had suddenly halted and looked around, to Sigma's surprise, as if suspecting someone being there.

"… Guess I was imaging things. Let's go to the HQ."

"Roger."

But Harp Note hadn't been imaging things given how a figure was sneakily jumping from Wave Road to Wave Road and concealing itself by using some kind of system which allowed its body to imitate the texture and colorings of the Wave Road thus making it hard to spot.

_Heh, heh, heh… Woman… Maybe I'll use you as an incentive to lure Rock Man into a trap and then have fun with the guy… You lowlife can join my list of nameless and faceless humans who have been slain by my glorious blade under the command of my Master… He will decide which targets I can go after and which I can't but I don't care… _

"… Again?"

"… It was closer this time. Maybe it's a proxy or something Mors has sent after us to monitor our progress." Harp Note muttered.

_Heh, heh, heh! A proxy by Mors? Think again! I have nothing to do with that guy. I dunno what the guy wants and I couldn't care less as long as there are interesting preys to hunt down… I and my little "companion" share a connection with Mu, too… Laugh while you still can do that!_

Harp Note suddenly frowned and looked around.

_Is there another party involved into this…?_


	7. Chapter 7: Code IN

**Chapter 7: Code IN**

20:33 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday September the 7th…

"… No! The jerk is nowhere to be seen. I'm looking for the room he's supposedly headed to but I haven't found it yet. The elder was honest with me but he didn't know the exact location."

"Hmmm… If I wanted to build a room which would be hard to find… I'd build it behind a fake wall… Or in hard-to-access spot…"

"Ga."

"Shut up, Laplace."

Vadous (a man on his mid 20s having black hair and reddish eyes) was sitting on a black metallic armchair.

He wore body armor made of an unknown grayish compound material: some purple patterns were drawn around it.

He sported a ragged, torn and worn out purple cape attached to the back of his shoulders which spread all the way to the ground but had some centimeters' margin of space.

He lastly carried two elaborated sword sheaths attached to the thick central belt colored black running around his waist.

"Anyway… I'll cut the channel. Maybe you can find a way around Mors' tricks, especially those "Four Heavenly Kings"…"

"I remember having heard of those and that civilization yet I don't recall their name. Guess I'll have to question the elder again."

The room in which Vadous was at had been built inside of a small dome: the floor was a narrow steel corridor wide enough for one person to stand which was shaped like two trapezes connecting each other by a line: the ground was lowered and covered in a grid – like metal on the spaces between each trapeze and to left and right of the corridor: another room could be seen expanding downwards below this one through the metallic grid's openings.

A small circle marked the start of a rail crossing across the room until the other end where the armchair in which Vadous was sitting at (having a purple-colored Alphabet "V" letter drawn on the rear) was positioned.

The other end of the room contained a console which was filled with several LEDs, indicators, switches, levers and buttons plus a built-in keyboard and mouse pad: three gigantic and interconnected LCD screens had been affixed to the wall to be above it.

The room's walls had several metallic stripes built into it which contained round LED lights: the centermost point of the room had a hatch built into the ceiling which was currently closed.

The central LCD screen displayed Burai and Laplace running down a corridor somewhere in the Mu Continent (as evidenced by the architecture and the dim lighting) while the other two merely displayed blueprints of something.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…" A voice rang out.

"Sigma. This isn't the time for games." Vadous muttered.

"What bothersome foolish people!"

"Omega… Aren't you searching another section of the Mu Continent? Stop trolling."

"Such foolishness, I laugh at it!"

"Akatsuki. Please don't come up with your dry humor."

"Huh? I wasn't saying anything." Acid Ace replied as he showed up on the left screen.

"I was counting this stairway's steps." Omega replied through the right-side screen.

"Sigma! Didn't you hear me? Show your hide!"

"Eh… Sigma – san is with us, Boss, but he's not saying anything!"

"Yeah. It wasn't us." Harp Note added.

"Then who the…?"

"Warning! Warning! Code IN! Code IN! Code IN! Code H!" An auto-voice exclaimed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Burner Man – sama will burn them up until only ashes are left!"

"Hyu~h! Cold Man – sama is gonna make _ice candy_ outta this big ugly guy~! Get ready~! Hyu~h!"

"Heh. I'll take the blue kid into the living _Naraku_…"

"By all the… "Darkloids"!" Rock Man cursed over the radio.

"First time was in Planet Zenay III, then Tabuu formed them and now Mors can form them, too!" Harp Note cursed.

"Bothersome mice!" Sigma grumbled.

"What do we do, Boss?" Omega asked.

"Stay there! Mors will soon be headed over there once he's ended up hacking whatever he wants to hack." Vadous commanded.

"By the way… What does the "IN" in "Code IN" mean?" Acid Ace asked with a hint of curiosity.

"IN as in "intruder"… _Shinnyusha_." Vadous revealed.

"And "H" in "Code H" stands for "Hacking", then?"

"Correct. Rock Man, Harp Note, Sigma! Can you handle those? Where are you now?" Vadous asked.

"Observation Room #13, 3rd Deck! These guys are being bothersome, as always!" Sigma reported.

"Burn, burn and BURN!"

"Hyu~h! Iceberg Press!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Come, kid. I'll teach you how to use _it_ properly and I'll have fun with you lowlife…"

20:38 PM (Japan Time)…

"… BURN!"

"Grah! Stay away, you!"

"Hah! There's no halting Burner Man – sama!"

Sigma's opponent, Burner Man, struck as being around a meter and sixty tall or above.

His eyes didn't have irises on them and were colored blue while a grin covered his face.

His head was surrounded by a blood red metallic helmet which had two of those fang-like objects set on both sides of it.

His emblem was set on the forehead and its drawing was a simplistic oval-shaped flame colored sky blue.

Red metallic armor was built over his upper body and it had four metallic objects shaped like fangs set over the shoulders: each one had a yellow stripe close to the backwards edge which had a blackish metallic cover.

His shoulders were oddly placed lower than they should be at, half-way down the upper body.

Two short black arms without elbows emerged from them and ended in long cylinders colored red with a yellow stripe and having black hands at their end: the emblem was repeated there.

The body below the armor had armor with some vertical stripes set on them.

His legs were free of armor until just past the knee: two cylinders with the same coloring pattern as the ones in the arms were set there and two armored feet with black soils emerged from below them.

"Hyu~h! Cold Man is gonna beat ya. White Breath! White Breath! White Breath! Hoh, hoh, hoh!"

"How annoying! Get lost!"

Cold Man was much shorter in height and didn't appeal as being even a meter and forty tall: he was largely designed like a small walking freezer device.

His head was shaped after a fridge's upper segment (namely the freezer itself) and the forehead was built like the door for the freezer: two small eyes with black irises could be seen below it placed over a black piece yet he had no mouth or nose.

His main body was colored in a metallic white color and shaped like a cylinder divided into three main pieces: two "doors" with black handles on the front and a main piece on the rear.

A short scarf with two tones of purple was coiled around his neck thus hiding his mouth (if he had one to begin with) and nose.

His shoulders were blue in coloring yet having a orange-like circle in the front part of them: a black metallic pipe formed an arch as it came out of the NE and NW corners of each shoulder and fused with each of his forearms.

His arms were colored black and shaped like mechanical components of the fridge: each one had two small circles set mid-way along their length and just below each shoulder.

The forearms were colored in that metallic white color and the metallic pipes merged with the start of the wrists: his hands were orange in color and his fingers' "skin" was colored using navy blue coloring: a small piece of armor covered the start of the fingers: it had five oval objects set there.

His lower body was colored navy blue and had a small black LCD display of the temperature which currently read "-40 ºC" and one small white metallic piece extending backwards just below it.

His feet had a piece of armor over the knees and ankles plus another piece colored orange near the start of the feet fingers: the main color being used here was navy blue, too: the soils of his feet used the white color too.

Lastly, his emblem, drawn into the ear-pads, was the Alphabet letter "C" aiming backwards and colored in snow white color.

"Heh, heh, heh."

"Stay away from me, you leech – like guy! I won't let you come closer!"

"Hah! "DS" Blues won't be intimidated! Delta Ray Edge!"

Rock Man's opponent was a humanoid "Darkloid" who appeared to be over a meter and sixty tall: he had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them: a purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet.

His main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: left was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple parallel formations originating at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid shape.

The central body of the forearm was colored metallic gray: it had two purple circles colored yellow inside.

A purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing.

His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

"Boss! Leave this up to us! Please go halt Mors! We'll handle these jerks in the meanwhile! Come, you punk! I won't lose so easily! Hra~h!"

20:41 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Good, good! This is just what I need. Instead of such bothersome watchdogs… I will make use of these."

"Think I'll let you, Darkus Mors?"

"Hmmm? So you are Vadous…"

"Yeah. This is as far as you come."

"I think differently, Demon Tribe one."

"How do you know that?"

Mors had been standing in the midst of a walkway and doing something with a Hunter – VG having a special wire and device which allowed it to connect to a slot on the wall next to a Real Wave monitor when Vadous dropped down from above and landed behind him.

The room they were inside of was easily over several tens of meters tall and huge: it was a gigantic cylinder-shaped room which had several catwalks and stairs crossing across it from different heights and directions plus large fans set on the walls: the ground was a mere metallic grid which seemingly allowed a large bulk below it to expel heat: most of the room was unlit but the catwalks had fluorescent paint on the ground and handrails to mark them: the ceiling had two small metallic grids as well shaped like opposing halves of an hexagon.

"I have been… researching." He pronounced the last word as if he wasn't familiar with it.

"Searching?" Vadous suggested instead.

"Ah. Good. Searching. That word sounds better to me."

"I'm starting to wonder if you can read _kanji_ at all." Vadous suddenly brought up.

"Huh? Well. I am a foreigner. But I have studied Japanese for over a year and half by now. I might now have good level, but… I thought _hiragana_ and _katakana_ work as well?"

"True. I forget you're a foreigner from somewhere in the region which used to be that old kingdom… Anyway! You used Blood's data to predict a set of coordinates so that you could "warp" your way inside. And now you've brought "Darkloids" along to keep Rock Man and the others busy yet you've forgotten about me."

"That way of falling from above…" Mors muttered.

Vadosu signaled upwards the floor of the command bridge room could be seen: one of the hexagon halves had been removed of the metallic grid and was obviously from where Vadous had jumped down.

"Ah… I see." He looked amused.

"Only a handful of persons got to know about me being a member of the so-called "Demon Tribe" of which the only other member is already dead by now… You wouldn't have been in the "Palace" by any chance, would you, Mors?" Vadous sounded suspicious.

"The "Palace"…? Ah. That flying building, you mean? I was there. And I could find some data."

"Yet… If you say you've been active for over a year and a half… Why did you wait until now to find the orbs' parts?"

"It was not easy getting a hold of their locations! I had to check countless historical registers and interrogate people who had expertise on the field in vain." He shrugged.

"Ah. So that's why, yet… Both Hibiki and Subaru told me that you always said "HQ" when you warp out. And the blurry image suggested somewhere modern yet it isn't the "Palace" because I had it be scrapped and only 30% of it is left nowadays." Vadous pointed out.

"Ah. True, true. Did I not say before that I worked for Mr. King and his "New Dealer" organization?"

"Come on. That's a cheap cover you improved out of people's expectations but you act alone. We managed to find video imagery of what happened in Kuwait…"

"Ah… So I have been exposed."

"And you yourself admitted belonging to the descendants of that empire's royal family in Sidney. I think that only someone of such rank could master those "Four Heavenly Kings"…"

"Sigma Sword! Eat sword!"

"GRA~H!"

"Axis Jet X!"

"HYU~!"

"Black End… Galaxy!"

"UWA~H! MY PREY~!"

"I'd say your little distractions are over." Vadous grinned.

"Whatever."

PING!

"Just in time. Transfer complete."

"… You can't have copied the whole mainframe in such a little space of time, Mors, so you had something _specific_ in mind which I'll find out once I look up the logs." Vadous drew both swords.

Mors ignored him and unplugged the wire before placing the Hunter – VG on its spot and taking the "Lost Orb" out of the backpack: it was largely shining with blackish light yet the grooves between each quarter of the outer sphere were dull and inactive.

"90% complete… When I find the Room of Rites… And find out how to activate it… The _Lost Legacy_ shall be revived!" He exclaimed as he held it up into the light.

"Ah. Burai. You came." Vadous looked at a walkway right above them and sounded relieved.

"What! Burai, you say!"

Mors turned around but there was no – one on the platform: Vadous suddenly tossed one of his swords towards the "Lost Orb" and the hilt impacted Mors' right hand thus making him let go of the "Lost Orb" which rolled down until Vadous' feet and he picked it up to examine it: Mors growled something in his foreign idiom and drew the Makarov pistol from his belt.

"Die! Die! Die!" He yelled.

"Time Flow."

Vadous merely extended his right hand and time seemed to slow down for Mors as his bullets flew outwards at a slow speed and bounced off Vadous' body armor: he suddenly tossed the "Lost Orb" back at Mors and hit the Makarov thus making it jump out his hand and down the long room until it hit the ground with a metallic sound: Mors made a grimace and brandished the "Lost Orb" as if it were a weapon.

"Warp! Mu Continent!" He yelled.

The "Warp" ability started up and he vanished from the room: Vadous shrugged and picked his sword before holstering it back: he then formed a smile.

"Gotcha, Mors. I placed a tracer on the "Lost Orb" and I will be able to know where you go to after you visit the Mu Continent. I better go contact Burai and the other two." He muttered.

He brought up a Hunter – VG and activated something: a "Real Wave" rung ladder which he used to climb back into the command bridge: he then deactivated it and the grid closed the hole as he sat down on the command armchair and typed into the keyboard to then frown.

"What? What is he planning to do with those? What use does the guy see to them? I dunno… Hmmm…? My S3 Scheme notes…? But I ripped that off somewhere else: it wasn't an original idea to begin with!" He muttered.

He sighed and leant backwards on the armchair as if thinking.

_Mors… Just what are you up to?_


	8. Chapter 8: Duel on the Mu Continent

**Chapter 8: Duel on the Mu Continent**

09:04 AM (Bermuda Time), Tuesday September the 7th…

"… Omega! What's the situation like? Over."

"Nothing, Boss. I found Craig but apart from that…"

"Alright… Then… I'm gonna contact Akatsuki and… Wait a minute. Did you say Craig? Who's that? We're looking for Mors!"

"Akatsuki's evil and nefarious cousin, ya see~!"

"Stop meddling around. Get back to work."

"Invent Meddling Man."

"Very funny. Now move your legs."

"My shining legs, then?"

"I don't see why you call them "shining" to begin with."

"'Cause they're cool, aren't they?"

"No. Over."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh…"

Omega was searching a corridor in the Mu Continent and he started to joke over the radio but Vadous didn't like his jokes so he cut him off while Omega shrugged.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!" Several voices rang out.

"My, my."

"Found you!"

"Hyde. Have ya gone to Hyde Park in London?"

"What! There's a park named in my honor?"

"Yeah. Go make a speech there about why theater beats TV and cinema to begin with."

"I doubt it being named after ya, Hyde…"

"Shut up, Phantom!"

A squad of about 60 Erand Soldiers accompanied Phantom Black as he showed up in front of Omega but he began to tease him: Phantom Black looked eager while Phantom sounded skeptical.

"Or New York City's Hyde Park…"

"What! New York City, even!"

"Hyde…"

"Shut up!"

"The one in New York is a city, though, close to the metropolis."

"A city which has my name! Wonderful! Sublime! Magnificent!" He began to get thrilled.

"Hyde Park in Sydney…"

"London, New York, Sydney! And I've been to Sydney earlier today without knowing that? What an ignorant I am!" He gasped.

"Hyde Park in Chicago: a neighborhood…" Omega listed next.

"Chicago…! Oh, my, my! I am more famous than I thought!" He exploded into maniacal laughter.

"But that's why I say that…" Phantom interjected.

"Silence!" Phantom Black commanded.

"Ah… Alright, alright. Don't blame me later, though." He sighed with obvious defeatism to his voice.

"Los Angeles: a district…"

"Los Angeles as well? Mwah, hah, hah! I rule the world!"

"Come on…"

"Leeds: an inner-city sector…"

"I'm everywhere~!"

"Boston: again a neighborhood."

"I don't mind! As long as it has my name on it…!" Phantom Black sounded exultant by now.

"The Hyde manor which is what was in London before the Hyde Park itself was built…"

"A manor! House of dukes! I must have a royal antecessor! I used to live in Austria yet it'd seem I must have antecessors in King Land! Bow before me, you plebeians! I am the owner of the Hyde Manor!"

"By all the…" Phantom muttered.

"And I am proud to say I have a very talented…"

"Don't say it! You'll spoil it!" Phantom gasped.

"Eh… A very talented valet." He seemingly improved.

"My, my. All dukes have valets, after all." Omega shrugged.

"Phew." Both sighed in relief.

"Or is he foreign thus why it'd create a scandal?" Omega teased.

"H-how could you…?" He gasped.

"It was obvious, ya see~!"

"Where else! Where else is my name engraved?"

"Where else? Hum… Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney…"

"Barracks?"

"Well… It historically was a facility to hold convicts…"

"So I have _two_ landmarks in Sydney? As expected! Some of my antecessors must have migrated there and to the Eastern Coast as well! I am of royal blood!" He laughed.

"Hype Park Corner, in London…"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Good, good!"

"And that's all."

"Magnificent! Divine! Supreme! Beautiful! I shall go visit each one of these landmarks and erect statues of my glorious figure!" He exclaimed with obvious excitement.

"Hyde…" Phantom called out.

"What?"

"The guy's gone." He reported.

"What!"

Phantom Black looked around and gasped upon seeing a row of about 30 of the Erand Soldiers missing limbs, being cut, sliced or diced and others being beheaded: his jaw hit the floor.

"B-but how in the world…? I didn't hear any noise!"

"He drew the blade and ran down the space between the right wall and the rightmost rows of the Erand Soldiers while purposely letting it cut through them. They didn't have time to react because you didn't give them orders." Phantom described with a sigh.

"Hmpf. There you are."

"Burai! You lowlife!"

"That's my motto. That guy stalled for time so I could settle it with you lowlife while he goes search for that Mors jerk."

Burai had showed up on the opposite end of the corridor and had the Laplace Blade drawn: he looked bored.

"Phantom Claw!"

"Weak."

CLANG!

"Hell! The Mu Rejection…!"

TCHAC!

"Grah!"

Burai countered by warping forward and swinging his blade thus getting it to get half-stuck on Phantom Black's upper chest: he then switched to the punches and kicks before he jumped down from above and provoked a shockwave of purple flames: Phantom Black growled and tried to shoot the "Phantom Claw" at Burai only to hit the "Mu Rejection" once again and be repelled: Burai suddenly jumped in the midst of the Erand Soldiers and displayed the crest of Mu into the air: the Erand Soldiers looked it and the crest showed up on their faces before they turned to look at Phantom Black.

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!" They yelled.

"What! What happened, Phantom?"

"Looks like a secret code only know to Burai… It gives him irrevocable authority and any attempts to override it will be considered "treason to the Empire" which is punishable with death, too."

"Impossible!"

"… _Kyashi, Zul, Rai, Pho, Mil_!" They yelled again.

"Obey me~!" Phantom Black yelled.

The Erand Soldiers simply jumped towards him and began to swing their swords while shooting beams of energy at him: Burai ran off with a shrug of his shoulders while Phantom Black struggled in vain against the greater number of enemies.

"Off me, you lowlifes! Off me, you barbarians! Off me, you renegade soldiers! Off me, you traitors!" He roared.

"I knew things wouldn't end up well." Phantom sighed.

"Off me, plebeians! Off me, scum! Off me, crooks! Off me, bugs! Off me, mice!"

Phantom sighed while Phantom Black struggled on…

09:11 AM (Bermuda Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. So this is how it works! The "Room of Rites" merely contains the missing piece. The name is a fake hint to make you believe you have to do something complicated, yet… It's as easy as picking this piece and slotting it inside of the empty groove! I knew I was missing something. And here it is! Heh, heh, heh!"

Mors was standing inside of a largely empty stone room which only had a round stone table containing what looked like a black-colored metallic piece consisting on the fusion between a vertical and horizontal rings: Mors examined the four junction points and managed to disassemble them to then place them into the "Lost Orb" and adding the rest of the structure: the orb then emitted a bright golden light and his face turned into one of eagerness and ambition.

"_Kuos meas ueo ya_." An automated voice announced.

"Reconstruction complete, it says…! Finally…! This is no longer the "Lost Orb"… It's what it originally was! The "Ultimate Orb"! And I will be able to gain that power which originally only Mu held… And my true nature shall be awakened! I will abandon my plebeian name and retrieve the royal name I hold!" He laughed.

"Yeah? I think ya need to get past me first."

"Akatsuki, eh? Just in time. I hate unpunctual types!"

"Huh? Oh. Crap. Too late…!"

Acid Ace ran into the room but Mors was already exhibiting his completed "Ultimate Orb" on his hands and grinning.

"Four Heavenly Kings! Unlock your full power! Destroy all which stand on the way of our kingdom! Those who question your power! Those ignorant plebeians who laugh at your figures and try to reduce your divine status need to be punished! Grant them painful and slow death! Pain! Agony! Despair! Hopelessness! Anger! Hatred! Grudge! Despise! Let those fools be consumed by their very own "emotions"! Now descend from the skies and raze the rotten Continent!" He chanted.

The "Four Heavenly Kings" showed up but this time their figures had a golden glow to them and they looked way fiercer that they had done hours ago: Acid Ace gulped and stepped back.

"Now go! Agonic Flames! Painful Waves! Despairing Tornado! Despiteful Fissure!"

Purple flames formed around Acid Ace, followed by a gigantic tidal wave which washed him out of the room into a corridor, a tornado which made him climb up a recently opened shaft and a fissure which made him fall into a small sub-chamber filled with paintings of skeletons and other grim images.

"O~w… That hurt…! Grah…! What power! And it turns out that they weren't at full power hours ago, too…!" He cursed.

"Then he's mine!" Burai exclaimed nearby.

He jumped over the fissure and dropped down the shaft to enter the "Room of Rites" where Mors was sitting on the stone table and humming a melody in a carefree manner: the "Four Heavenly Kings" were standing in front of him in a cross formation and looked ready to attack him if he took one step forward.

"Hiya~! So ya are Burai, huh? Too bad, though! Your old masters' fail-safes turned out to be in vain!" He taunted.

"You lowlife… Stop meddling around!" Burai grumbled.

"No, no. That's my phrase. Or do you name it motto? Whatever. I'm surprised you bothered to go to a place like that hotel in Yaeba Resort but I guess ya had to check on Yeti and Gori, right?"

"What I did is none of you lowlife's concern."

"There he goes, with the hostile speech and all… I never had patience for diplomacy." He made an exaggerated sigh.

"Come, you lesser Gods! I will destroy you."

"What foolishness!"

The "Four Heavenly Kings" attacked Burai at the same time and he ended up in the same spot Acid Ace was at: he grumbled and managed to climb out along with Acid Ace.

"Direct attack won't work." He warned.

"Che."

"Moriarty! That's as far as your Trump cheating tricks go. Ops! I meant Colonel Sebastian Moran, though." Omega's voice echoed from the lower level.

"You're Omega! How could you get behind me without them noticing your presence?" Mors demanded.

"'Cause I've been hidden here ever since ya began to work with the metal piece using my stealth camouflage, ya see~!" He replied.

"Stealth camouflage…?" He sounded like he didn't know what the word meant.

"A device to turn invisible~!" Omega laughed.

"What in the…!" Mors sounded baffled.

"Surprised?"

"Hmpf! Go! Four Heavenly Kings!" He commanded.

"Find me firstly~!" Omega challenged.

"Wait for us!" Acid Ace called out.

"We're joining the party." Burai grinned.

They jumped down the shaft and ran back inside of the chamber where the "Four Heavenly Kings" were trying to hit Omega as he jumped from place to place in a blur: Mors was trying to get a fix on him with his Makarov as well while the other two tried to sneak into him but the "Four Heavenly Kings" resumed their cross formation around him to protect him: Omega dropped in the NE corner and sliced the Makarov's barrel in twice in a sudden move before jumping into the SW corner.

"Ta – dan!" He exclaimed.

"Hmpf! Whatever! I have no further use for this place! Ultimate Orb! Warp! HQ! The final phase is about to start… And with the information I gained from Vadous… I shall prepare something which will make you lowlifes lose all hope and plunge into despair… Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

He vanished from the "Room of Rites" while Burai scoffed and both Acid Ace and Omega sighed.

"We're too deep for normal radio communications with Boss, so… Let's climb up to report." Omega told Acid Ace.

"Alright. What a crazy day!"

"I heard. Chasing that jerk across four continents… It had to be a pain in the brain." Burai muttered.

"Oh! By the way… Burai. Could you guide us to what's left of the Great Temple? We'd like to see Ra Mu's remains." Omega requested all of a sudden.

"Why not…" He shrugged.

They climbed up the shaft and suddenly spotted Phantom Black running past them while being chased by a group of about 15 Erand Soldiers: he was cursing aloud.

"Ignorant masses, plebeians, fools! Stay away from me! I have dukes' blood! I am an Austrian citizen! Stay away from me, you barbarians of the Stone Ages! _Vade retro_!" He yelled.

"_Vade retro_?" Acid Ace and Burai wondered.

"Latin! "Step back!"…" Omega translated.

"Of course… Latin is the universal language used to classify living creatures and such… And it was the dominant language in Western Europe by the time of the Roman Empire…" Acid Ace realized.

"Hmpf. Dukes' blood? What a fool."

"Yeah. Blame me. I stuffed that idea into him after listing all locations named "Hyde Park" in the world and saying there had been a Hyde Manor where Hyde Park in London exists nowadays." Omega admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Heh. Not bad." Acid Ace grinned.

"Follow me."

"Ga." Laplace called out.

"No. Games come later." Burai replied.

"Yu…"

The group climbed up a large stairway which was partly collapsed and found the remains of Ra Mu sitting on the deepest point of the Great Temple: it looked totally ravaged and the chest plate was totally missing: a faint red glow could be seen coming out from inside of it.

"The Dinosaur OOPArt?" Acid Ace guessed.

"Yeah. I didn't touch it because I have no need for it. Half of it is stained by the hands of that Mors' antecessors. The other half was manipulated by my peoples' elders, yet I feel like it should be left untouched. I dunno where the "Shinobi" and "Berserk" OOPArts are but I have to need for them, really." Burai replied.

"I once simulated the forms Rock Man would take when using the different OOPArts or if he'd received another "Star Force" which wasn't Magic Pegasus' one… Plus the Noise Changes and Finalize forms, as well…" Vadous admitted over the radio.

"Intriguing. Maybe you show them to Subaru, shouldn't you?" Acid Ace suggested.

"… Yeah. Guess so…" Vadous trailed off.

Burai seemed to catch some meaning to it and so did Omega while Acid Ace frowned and didn't seem to see what was making them frown: a lingering silence formed upon the room…


	9. Chapter 9: S3 Scheme

**Chapter 9: S3 Scheme**

18:49 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday September the 8th…

"… So, Boss?"

"Nothing! The tracer doesn't show up no matter what I do. He's either destroyed it or he's somewhere underground because that's the only explanation for the signal not showing up."

"There's another one, ya know!"

"Huh? Which one?"

"A wizard did it! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"War Rock. That was lame, really."

"Totally."

Subaru was sitting in the chair inside of his room and talking with Vadous while War Rock joked: both looked unimpressed at his jokes.

"Warning. Warning. Tracker signal retrieved."

"What! So it was intact?" Vadous gasped.

"Its current location: sea surface level, 333 km SSE of Shanghai, East Choina Sea. Target is stopped. Uploading satellite imagery for analysis…"

"By all the…! That's…!" Vadous uttered.

"What, what?" War Rock asked with eagerness.

"Look at it!"

The Real Wave screen displayed a photo of a large metallic greenish ray manta – shaped object which had nothing which stood out from it apart from a large shaft carved in the middle of the structure which was currently closed: water was still sliding down its body.

"This! This has to be Mors' HQ."

"Whoa! How could he build this thing alone?" Subaru gasped.

"I'd rather say he's stolen it from some secret Choina shipyard. I'd heard rumors of a new type of warfare vehicle which was a cross between a submarine and a battleship which could use an onboard supercomputer to take over any nation's critical computer systems through the massive deployment of Trojan programs and hijacks programs to then turn it against the owners and facilitating a large-scale invasion by cutting off supply lines and military communications." Vadous replied.

"Ah! Now I see."

"Ya see the chance to go to a _rave_ party?" War Rock teased.

"_Rave_ party? I dunno what that is but I suspect I'm not legally authorized to go to such events." He frowned.

"Maybe Tsukasa will gain the upper hand?"

"I doubt it."

"Ah! Regarding Futaba… I think I have good news. Choina police in the NE province have interrogated a suspicious man known to be involved with some types of underground "deals" and he let out that he'd seen Futaba time ago but he's still reluctant to give out the name of the "customer" who took him away." Vadous admitted.

"So we're just one step from learning his location, then? That's great! I don't know how to thank you, Boss."

"Don't mind it. I can't stand these sick people to begin with. But this can wait a little while. Our target now is Mors and whatever is inside of that metallic thing. I guess Burai will want to ride along so contact him. You, Hibiki, Akatsuki, Burai, and Blood Shadow will suffice. I'll keep Sigma and Omega as reserve units." Vadous listed.

"Roger!"

"_A~nd… It's party time~_!" War Rock laughed.

"Oh. Come on." Subaru groaned.

"B-B-B-Bertie~! Come at me~!"

18:29 PM (Shanghai Time)…

"… This is a trap, alright. Why else would there be a Wave Road leading to directly above this place and a Warp Point jumping inside of the structure through its open hatch?"

"So! What do you suggest, Acid Ace?"

"Let's split and try to locate Mors."

"Sounds fair to me… Let's keep the radio lines open just in case."

"Roger."

"Let's go!"

Acid Ace, Burai, Harp Note, Rock Man and Blood Shadow were standing in the midst of a hanger-like room which was empty: the large hatch above them was closed and purple orbs of light affixed to the walls illuminated the place thus giving it a creepy appearance.

"_It's party time_!" War Rock laughed.

"Oh. Shut up."

Rock Man headed north, Acid Ace headed south, Burai picked west, Harp Note headed east and Blood Shadow jumped into a catwalk surrounding the room which seemed to be the first floor: Rock Man ran down a corridor and suddenly heard a low chuckle echoing close by: he looked around while aiming the Buster but couldn't spot anyone.

"A "Darkloid"…?" He wondered.

"Heh, heh, heh… Ah… What thirst! I need some fresh and young blood to refill my thirst… I'll have yours to begin with followed by the damsel in distress and the other fools… I wonder if androids have blood… If not I shall merely rip it apart piece after piece…" The voice chuckled.

"That voice…!" Rock Man muttered.

"Rings a bell, yeah…"

"Calling on Shade Man…"

The lights brightened to reveal the "Darkloid" named Shade Man: his design was reminiscent of a vampire.

They seemed to be over a meter and ninety in height.

His main body color was purple and navy blue: he had an upper body colored purple which ended half-way around the torso: the rest of the body was colored navy blue.

His head was set inside of a neck-like formation with fangs protruding from their upper edge while pointing forward.

The interior of it was partly colored blood red: he had a cone-like object at the lower edge of his chin: the outer edge of the head was colored purple and two golden-colored bat-like ears formed at the sides of it.

His eyes' irises were red and looked menacing: he had a moustache-like pattern below his nose which was interrupted in the middle of it. The pattern left two straight lines aiming SW and SE: his mouth had fangs.

His arms had a pattern resembling the Alphabet "F" character mirrored drawn on his forearms: his hands were claws, too, and had four claw-fingers on them colored pale white.

The upper body had two small round holes with a golden rim set to the edges of the torso and beneath the shoulders: two slightly curved golden-colored pieces were set above each shoulder while a small square piece was set at the base of the neck: it was colored black and had three vertical stripes drawn into it.

His emblem was colored golden and had five pyramidal-like buttons.

These limes were emerging from its rim and aiming South, NW, NE, SW and SE: two golden lines formed at the sides of it and marked the border between the upper body and the rest of the body.

The drawing inside was two curved halves aiming for each other colored purple plus a small peak-like object on the middle of it: the space between the three drawings was painted in blood red color.

His feet had three large finger-claws colored white.

Each of his legs had two white triangle-shaped patterns aiming upwards set around the knee.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… I shall suck all of your blood before you can count up to three, kid…" He laughed.

"Still as creepy as when the attack on Planet FM…! But I won't lose to a vampire wannabe! Wave Battle! Ride On!"

"_Let's go~!_"

"Crush Noise!"

"Holy Panel, Barrier 200, Grave Joker Galaxy Advance!"

Rock Man formed the Holy Panel followed by the Barrier 200 and summoned Grave Joker who hit Shade Man with his right fist before dropping a "Building" block over him and in another two spots nearby: the attack momentarily stunned Shade Man.

"Charge Shot!"

"Guah! Why, you… Red Wing!"

"What!"

Shade Man suddenly transformed into several red bats which flew towards Rock Man and collided with him thus leaving some cut marks on his body: Shade Man then reformed and chuckled as he covered himself with the wings.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Is that all?"

"No! Spade Magnets X! Mad Vulcan X! Sword Fighter X!"

"What in the…!"

Spade Magnets formed on the field and hit Shade Man twice with his swords before Rock Man bombarded him with the Mad Vulcan X and delivered six cuts via the Sword Fighter X: Shade Man growled and stepped back while clutching the wounds on his body.

"Then… I shall drag you with me into the Realm of the Dead! Hra~h!"

"By all the…!"

Shade Man laughed in an insane manner as his body began to glow with purple light before blowing up and taking out all lights in the corridor plus pushing Rock Man backwards and into the ground: he managed to stand up, panting and grumbled.

"Rock Man? What's your status? Over." Acid Ace called out.

"I fought Shade Man!"

"I had to fight that Cloud Man guy." Harp Note reported.

"A weakling named Swallow Man got in my way." Burai added.

"The ridiculous Blizzard Man tried to stop me." Blood Shadow admitted with a shrug.

"And I had to face that mole named Cosmo Man… The FM Planet invaders gathered again…" Acid Ace grumbled.

"What do we do?" Rock Man asked.

"Let's keep like this and blast all opposition in our path."

"Roger!"

Rock Man dashed forward and spotted an open doorway from which a pale white light originated: he stepped through it and ended up in a narrow cylindrical shaft which had a run ladder built into the far wall extending upwards.

"Guess this climbs to the first floor…" He muttered.

"Correct, Hoshikawa!" Mors' voice boomed out.

"Mors!" He muttered.

"If ya have the guts, then climb up! And enter the battle stage for your _last_ battle…!" He laughed.

"Let's go, Subari~!" War Rock laughed.

"Jeez. Stop with the nicknames."

"Heh, heh, heh! I'm a genius!"

Rock Man climbed it up nevertheless and opened a small square hatch to end up in a vastly different room: the only thing there was a hexagonal platform filled with circuitry and encompassed within a white and blue semi-transparent carcass: water surrounded it and the room's walls and ceilings were way out of sight: a creepy fog lingered around the area, too, thus adding an element of creepiness into it: Rock Man stepped into the platform and the hatch closed alone followed by a buzz sound: Rock Man tried to open it using the handle but it wouldn't yield.

"Welcome to the Battle Arena, Rock Man! I've been waiting for you. I've come up with a little surprise for you." Mors announced out of nowhere as his voice echoed.

"Mors! Show your hide!" Rock Man challenged.

"Later. If you make it alive." He shot back.

"Alive through what?" Rock Man demanded.

"The battle you're about to fight… It will be a one-sided battle and my Elite Unit will always have the upper hand…"

"Elite Unit? Erand Soldiers?"

"Erand Soldiers? Have you forgotten? Mu is my tribe's enemy! I'd never steep so low so as to use the tools of the enemy! That's why I snuck into Vadous' HQ: I wanted ideas! And I found something very interesting indeed which I have managed to turn into a reality…" He trailed off.

"A secret weapon or something like that?" Rock Man tried to guess while frowning.

"Secret weapon? It could be called like that, true. Yet… This is way more than a simple weapon. A weapon is only worthy if you know how to properly handle it. And thus I created a unit capable of holding all these secret weapons. By the way! What do you remember about the "S3 Scheme", Rock Man?" He announced.

"What's that?" War Rock asked.

"But that was something Boss came up with to further the thought that I wasn't Hoshikawa Subaru back when Operation Independence!"

"Yet he didn't make it up in vain! Blood Shadow… His project would have initially included access to other abilities… But if you don't remember what the S3 Scheme was meant to be, I'll play this up."

The sound of a speaker being switched on rang out followed by a voice which also echoed around the room.

"…_Boy! You've let me see your battling style… Looks like you've remembered… The way to delete Viruses! Or is that a result of the S3 Scheme…? We were rather surprised when Boss discovered the S3 data from the supercomputer… However, if you think it twice, then it can't be called a bad scheme… Using poison to control poison… It is optimum: using an assassin to defeat SSRM's power… S3 Scheme… Shooting Star Simulation… A training program to artificially invent SSRM, the greatest historical hero… Created through thorough VR Training… A non-existent Special Forces agent… Boy. You've been remade by those guys… As an imitation of SSRM! What a pity, boy. Ending up steeping down into being a tool of the "Conspirators"… However, you let me use you as well. As an unexpected twist to those guys' scheme… Your intrusion, SSRM's appearance… It was obvious that a pawn of the "Conspirators" was slipping within us. Before the strategy entered the final phase we had to hunt out that guy. I used you as bait to do that… Boy. Those every-days spent in that civil-war country were reality… Life, death. Every day you were filled with an overwhelming reality. You who ran from there… Have now returned to a battlefield controlled by fiction… Hmpf. At any rate, the worthless tag games have now ended. There's no meaning to letting you swim any further. I arranged for a decent opponent. Well then… Well. In the end, at least… Die as MY apprentice!_"

"It's coming back…! SSRM meant me, "Shooting Star Rock Man", and the rest was some back-story to make me think I'd been involved in some civil war. I believed I was a failed test subject for those experiments…!"

"Heh, heh, heh… So! Have you written your will? Today will be your last stand, Rock Man!"

"Ain't that too _cliché_?" Rock Man looked unimpressed.

"_Cliché_? Define that!"

"Repetitive, classical, over-used motto…"

"You mean to say that I am merely imitating someone else?" Mors seemed to deduce.

"Correct."

"Well then… Today you shall fight to your last breath! And when the sword plunges through you… You will not notice it. Because you will be gone already…!" He sounded amused.

"Hah! If we beat Andromeda, that Ra Mu statue thing and that Crimson Dragon then we can beat whatever ya throw at us! Bring it on, you punk twerp!" War Rock taunted.

"Twerp? Define that word, you alien! That's an order!" He grumbled.

"A silly or annoying guy like ya, I mean!"

"You equal me to those plebeian fools? Watch your tongue, foreigner! I am of royal blood. Were this be our legitimate territory, you could be sent back out of our nation and be warned with war!" Mors exclaimed with his foreign accent.

"As if cared! The only King I ever knew was Cepheus but he didn't seem to care about what he was being called as long as all was done like he commanded!" War Rock sounded unimpressed.

"Hmpf! You barbarians' King was weak of will! After having gone through such kin-strife, he was paranoid and let the counselor of court manipulate him to his own deeds! Accusing an embassy of trying to invade their nation was the most foolish thing to do! An embassy is an embassy and they have the right to be received and listened to before deciding what will be done with that nation!" He listed.

"Fua~h… Did that politician apprentice finish the graduation speech already, Subari~?" He feigned boredom.

"What! You lowlife… Do you want war? You WILL have war! Nobody laughs at our nation! You were given an opportunity. But you have refused it! Diplomacy is over!" Mors growled.

"Huh… He's acting totally like he lived in the era when that nation flourished: guess he's a nostalgic who won't let go of the past…" Rock Man muttered.

"Hah! Nostalgic, eh? Are ya missing yer stone domino game?" War Rock mocked next.

"You lowlife… Insulting my family's honor?"

"Ask Mr. Universe!"

"I am about to mount into pure anger!" He hissed and his foreign accent became more marked.

"Then invent Anger Man!"

"Shut up. I think it's better not to anger the guy." Rock Man whispered back with some annoyance.

"Hmpf! I almost brought shame to myself with this display. I must keep my emotions under check if I do not want to dishonor my teachers and my bloodline!" Mors muttered in a low tone of voice as if he'd forgotten to switch off the speakers.

They heard some CLACK noises which sounded like a mechanism being activated and three metallic cylinders with dome-shaped ends and two closed doors fell down from the "sky" and landed into the water while deploying four small support legs: given how the water was barely knee-deep then the doors ended up above water level: Rock Man quickly looked at the three of them while frowning.

"So! Round 1… 3 Elite Soldiers! And I'm sure they'll ring a bell somewhere once you see their forms, Rock Man. Fight to your last breath and least die while fighting: the highest possible honor! I might feel generous and cremate your body later, even. Heh, heh, heh, heh…"

The capsules hissed and began to open while Rock Man gulped…


	10. Chapter 10: Nightmarish battles

**Chapter 10: Nightmarish battles**

18:48 PM (Shanghai Time), Wednesday September the 8th…

"… Unit S3 Zero is engaged. Form of Star - Force Pegasus. Orders: annihilate all life-forms."

"Unit S3 One is engaged. Form of Star - Force Dragon. Orders: Annihilate all life-forms."

"Unit S3 Two is engaged. Form of Star - Force Leo. Orders: Annihilate all life-forms."

"What in the…!"

Rock Man gasped as three enemies looking strikingly similar came out of the capsules and stepped into the platform in a triangle formation.

One of them was his "Star Force Pegasus" form with the only differences being thick ice blue shades and some kind of customized gun built on the right forearm.

"The form I gained when the AM Sage Magic Pegasus granted the "Star-Force" power to me and which I used to defeat Andromeda…!"

"T-this is…!" War Rock sounded baffled.

He looked at the north to spot another enemy looking similar to the "Star Force Pegasus" in general design yet his armor was a mix of shades of green coloring.

Thick green shades hid its eyes as well.

The shoulders were shaped like they were the fingertips of a dragon and some scale-like formations emerged from the left forearm.

The right forearm had a five-fingered metallic claw on it the edges of which were shining with purple lighting.

"T-that has to be the form I would've had if Dragon Sky had granted me his power instead…!" He gasped.

"And the last one has gotta be…!" War Rock muttered.

"Leo Kingdom's form…!"

The third enemy, standing at the right, had a body composed by a mix of orange and red colors.

Thick orange shades covered its eyes as well.

The shoulders had cut marks on them while the right forearm contained a flamethrower connected to a deposit built on the back.

"And this is _just_ Round 1!" Mors teased.

"No way! Then, there are enemies for the OOPArt form and the Noise Change forms?" Rock Man gasped.

"Heh, heh, heh… Don't blame me! Vadous came up with these designs. I merely used a common robot body and slightly tweaked their firmware programming to adjust them to each of their abilities… Well then… Fight like a warrior! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!" He laughed.

"Mors…!" Rock Man hissed.

"Zero Kelvin frigidness!"

"Inferno's flames!"

"Claws of poison!"

"W-whoa!"

The three robots attacked in unison: the Pegasus robot built up energy on the gun and shot a blast of cold condensed ice towards Rock Man while the Leo robot engaged the flamethrower and shoot flames towards Rock Man: the Dragon robot jumped towards Rock Man with the claws drawn.

"Dodge! Subaru!" War Rock rallied.

Rock Man jumped towards the south but the three robots reacted in unison and aimed at Rock Man as he was turning around: the Dragon robot reached him and made some cuts to Rock Man's body before it jumped away: the blast from the Pegasus robot hit him and immediately froze him.

"Guah!"

He got hit by the super-hot attack of the Leo robot and all melted ice on him evaporate immediately: his body then began to burn and he jumped into the water to take the flames out: he suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed into his knees.

"My HP values are falling…! I've got a poison bug on me…! Grah! These are no joke!" He growled.

"Let's counter!" War Rock rallied.

"Something which inflicts a lot of damage… I know! Giga Card: Break Count Bomb! Oi! Try to burn me again, silly imitator!" Rock Man muttered.

He placed the Break Count Bomb on the midst of the platform and jumped atop it to attract the attention of his enemies.

"Zero Kelvin frigidness!"

"Inferno's flames!"

"Claws of poison!"

Rock Man jumped into the air and towards the south just as the Leo robot hit the Break Count Bomb first thus setting it off: the explosion inflicted considerable damage to the three robots: the Dragon robot collapsed on its knees and its body began to shine.

"Self-destruct device: activated."

"What!" Rock Man gasped.

The robot blew up and Rock Man was pushed into the water by the shockwave: the other two robots immediately focused on him and jumped into the water, too.

"Zero Kelvin frigidness!"

"Inferno's flames!"

"Hum… If these guys are copying me… Then… Their HP must cap at 1000 points: like mine…"

"Guess that…"

"I've suffered around 800 HP of damage because this shockwave was worth 300 HP… The Dragon robot suffered 1200 points of damage and these must accumulate 900 HP so I'm close to beating them…! Battle Card, Big Grenade!"

"It's over, punks!"

The Big Grenade hit the floor and provoked three continuous explosions which damaged the enemy robots and brought them down into their knees.

"Holy Panel, Barrier 200!"

"Self-destruct mode: activated."

The two remaining robots blew up but Rock Man was unhurt thanks to his combination: he sighed in relief and jumped back atop the platform only to see another three capsules dropping down around the platform: he cursed under his breath.

"Round 2! These are just the _first_ 3 enemies. A total of _10_ enemies are waiting to face off against you!" Mors laughed.

"… Unit S3 Three... Form of Thunder Berserk... Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Four… Form of Fire Dinosaur… Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Five… Form of Green Shinobi… Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"Now the OOPArts forms, you mean to say? Is there no end?"

"What the…"

The leftmost robot had grey metallic armor over the chest, shoulders, arms, knees and feet.

Thick yellow shades covered the eyes.

The robot wielded a large sword the blade of which was shaped like a thunderbolt on the left forearm yet the right forearm had a device which looked like a miniature voltage converter system.

It was decorated with some yellowish patterns below the knees, on the front edges of the feet, around the shoulders and running down the sides of the body.

"T-that's the form I would've had if you'd swallowed the "Berserk" OOPArt in the Roppondo Hills Museum instead of the "Dinosaur" OOPArt…!"

"But this ain't everything!"

Rock Man looked north to see a robot which looked very close to his actual "Fire Dinosaur" form .

The shades were colored in an orange thick color instead.

The left forearm was surrounded by a circle of flames and the right forearm had a five-barreled gun which looked capable of attacking with missiles.

"And the last one…! OOPArt "Shinobi"…!"

This robot's appearance was somewhat reminiscent of a _ninja._

The face included a mouth-guard while the shades had been painted with thick green color.

It carried a metallic _shuriken_ with green fluorescent spots on the left hand while the right forearm had a built-in _katana_: two red triangles formed behind the main body.

The colors used were mainly shades of green with some brown on the legs: a belt surrounded the waist.

"100,000 Volts!"

"Hell Missiles!"

"_Shuriken_ Storm!"

"Grah! Gotta dodge!"

The Thunder Berserk robot held the blade upwards and it frizzled with electricity which then became bolts spreading around the area and heading for Rock Man: the Fire Dinosaur robot made the gun rotate to the right each time he shot a small white missile with a red warhead at Rock Man and, lastly, the Green Shinobi robot jumped into the air and began to throw countless _shuriken_ towards Rock Man: its attack dissolved the Barrier 200 and Rock Man gasped as he was the other two incoming attacks heading for him.

"Recovery 300, Recovery 300!"

He healed and then jumped towards the south yet the missiles impacted on him one after the other plus bathing him in an orange gelatinous substance which then caught fire on its own: he fell into the water to try to put the flames out and the electrical bolts hit him thus electrocuting him: he yelled and dropped into his knees to see the Green Shinobi robot aiming the _katana _at his neck.

"_Okubi choudai_!"

"Like I'll let you cut my neck off! Fire Slash! Break Saber X! Machine Flame X! Take these!"

Rock Man y stood up and first used the "Fire Slash" to inflict elemental damage to the robot followed by another attack and the "Machine Flame X" Battle Card: the robot dropped into its knees and glowed.

"Self-destruct mode: activated."

The robot self-destroyed and Rock Man stepped into the Holy Panel to cut down the rate of damage caused by it: he then drew the Muramasa Blade and hit the Thunder Berserk robot to inflict damage and quickly jump into the air: the Fire Dinosaur robot's missiles seemed to be about to hit its companion when they deviated and locked on Rock Man, bombarding him with the orange gel and setting him on fire: he dropped into the water but was electrocuted again.

"H-hell…! I'm not getting anywhere and I'm being beaten up the whole time…! Recovery 200, Recovery 150, Recovery 300!"

"These jerks!"

"Now… Wood Slash, Destroy Upper! The end, thunder maniac!"

He healed and jumped back into the air as he drew the "Wood Slash" Battle Card and made a neat cut into the chest of the robot spanning from the NW to the SE and then delivered an uppercut with the "Destroy Upper" Battle Card bringing the machine down.

"Self-destruct mode: activated."

"You're the next one! Elec Slash! Stun Knuckle! Sword Fighter X! Long Sword! The end!"

Rock Man quickly attacked the Fire Dinosaur robot as it was reloading missiles and also formed a gash on its body followed by a knuckle to the forehead, the six combined slashes of the "Sword Fighter X" and, finally, a finishing blow in the form of the "Long Sword" Battle Card.

"Self-destruct mode activated."

"Phew. It's over."

"Over? Did you not listen to me, Rock Man?" Mors reminded him with obvious amusement.

"The Noise Forms…!"

"No, no. The "Double Tribe" forms!"

"Huh? "Double Tribe"? Transforming with the OOPArt was named "Tribe On" but…" Rock Man frowned.

"Vadous came up with those, too! Imagine if you'd ended up wielding not _one_ but _two_ OOPArts… You could combine their powers! And this "Double Tribe", Rock Man! Total number of combinations… 9! I'll send them out in three groups of three units. Heh, heh, heh. An endless nightmare: this is what this place is! Struggle and wriggle in vain forever!" He laughed.

"No fair!" He groaned.

"This jerk!"

"… Unit S3 Six. Form of Berserk Shinobi… Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Seven. Form of Berserk Dinosaur… Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unite S3 Eight. Form of Shinobi Dinosaur… Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

The leftmost robot had a clear look as being a combination of the "Berserk" and "Shinobi" forms given the green and slight yellow colorings.

Its shades were colored yellow on the left and green on the right

They were carrying a sword and a _shuriken_ on the back while the right forearm also had the built-in _katana_.

"T-this is…!"

The northern enemy was colored red and had the missile launcher plus the "Berserk" sword attached to his back.

The shades' coloring followed the same pattern as in the other enemy yet the right side of them was colored orange instead.

"And that one…!"

The rightmost adversary combined the basic layout of the "Shinobi" form with the "Dinosaur" form.

The shades' coloring was green on the left and red on the right.

It included the missile launcher as well plus the _shuriken_ on the rear of the body and the characteristic helmet.

"Bolts of Punishment!"

"Bolts of Devastation!"

"Missiles of Punishment!"

The "Berserk Shinobi" robot drew the "Berserk" sword and made the electricity latch into the _katana._

"What?"

They then shot it out as a spiraling mass of electricity: the "Berserk Dinosaur" robot had the missiles be accompanied with electrical fields around them while the "Shinobi Dinosaur" robot shot the missiles which now had a needle attached to their warheads.

"One wood and two flames… Let's go like this! Zetsumetsu Meteor! Death Scythe X!" Rock Man muttered.

He began to bombard the robots with incandescent meteors plus had the "Death Scythe X" spin around their field and add damage to them: Rock Man received the blunt of the three attacks thus getting electrocuted twice and set into fire twice as well: he managed to stand up somehow and held back his exhales of pain.

"Subaru! Hold on!" War Rock rallied.

"Piranha Kiss X! Piranha Kiss X! BoBoBon Bomb X!"

Rock Man had the piranhas attack the two "Flame" robots while the "BoBoBon Bomb X" hit the other robot and blew up thus crippling the robot: the other two robots lingered on and began to reload their missile launchers.

"Now! Snow Ball X! Snow Ball X!"

The "Snow Ball X" Battle Cards summoned snow balls which rolled down the arena and hit the other two robots: they also fell into their knees and the three of them began to shine.

"Invisible!"

They blew up but Rock Man was unhurt and he managed to smile: Mors' chuckle rang out and he gasped.

"What short memory! I said 9 enemies in total! You've only beaten half of them! Here they come~! Wriggle! Struggle! Agonize! Die!" Mors laughed.

"… Unit S3 Nine. Form of Shinobi Berserk. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Ten. Form of Dinosaur Berserk. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Eleven. Form of Dinosaur Shinobi. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

The western imitator used the "Shinobi" body as basis and built over the "Berserk" armor.

The shades were colored in green and yellow

It included the sword yet keeping the helmet design the same as in the "Shinobi" form and it held the _katana_ on the right hand.

"Not more…!" Rock Man groaned.

The northern foe used the "Dinosaur" form as the starting point and gained the "Berserk" body design.

The shades were red and yellow.

It kept the "horns" on the helmet and had the electrical device on the right forearm.

"And that one, too…!" War Rock grumbled.

The last of the new trio used the "Dinosaur" body as origin point while building up the "Shinobi" design over.

The shades were red and green in this one's case.

It didn't alter the helmet and it held a _katana_ on the right forearm.

"And I'm saving up a little surprise if you can beat these 3, too! Heh, heh, heh. You'll hate your "Boss" for not erasing these designs a long time ago and thus allowing me to pick them and build these robots! Hatred!"

"We aren't perfect!" Rock Man shot back.

"Hah! What stubbornness, really! Very well, then! Be gone! Go, Elite Soldiers! Destroy them!"

"Punishing Voltage!"

"Agony Missiles!"

"Burning Blade!"

"I need to increase my Noise Level…!"

"Subaru… By now our Noise Level would be very high yet it doesn't want to rise past 1%... There's something blocking up emissions of Noise and those jerks don't emit Noise, either…" War Rock told him.

"Mors! That's unfair!" He yelled.

"Unfair? A warrior does not rely in a childish transformation which brings upon powers "borrowed" from others! Heh, heh, heh. You fight with your body's own potential!" Mors laughed.

"This guy…! Jeez! Beast Swing X! Dancing Blade X! Heel Wizard X! Noised Wizard X! Be gone already!" Rock Man growled.

He began to counter and ignored the first robot jumping towards him trying to hit him with the electrified _katana_, the second robot's electrified missiles and the third robot's burning _katana_: a purple War Rock formed on the field and swung his claws thus hitting all three robots followed by the "Dancing Blade X" crossing the area from the NW to the NE, a grey Heel Wizard hitting them with a whip and, lastly, a black berserk Wizard slashing them with a sword.

"Charge Shot!"

The Charge Shot bounced off the middle robot and damaged the other two thus making them blow up: Rock Man panted and growled something under his breath as he heard three SPLASH sounds ring out around his position once again.

"What now?"

"Heh. Look on!" Mors taunted.

"Che." War Rock grumbled.

"… Unit S3 Twelve. Form of Burai Berserk. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Thirteen. Form of Burai Dinosaur. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"… Unit S3 Fourteen. Form of Burai Shinobi. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"W-what the heck?"

Rock Man looked around as three new enemies surrounded him: their designs were based off the basic form for each OOPArt (Thunder Berserk, Fire Dinosaur and Green Shinobi) yet their coloring became black and their shades purple thus looking like a cross between the OOPArts and Burai's own form.

"Vadous predicted this, too! Were you to find some "Aloofness Fragments" and fuse them together into the "Aloofness Proof" then you'd get these forms which would reflect your "past self" back when you only though about your own self… And if you can beat these, then I'll give out the last surprise before jumping to Round 3…"

"Not so fast, Mors."

"Yeah! Ya forgot us."

"Omega – san, Sigma – san…!"

"Che. Someone got in the way…"

Omega and Sigma suddenly entered the room by breaking the hatch open and faced one opponent each: Mors sounded annoyed at the occurrence, obviously enough.

"Sorry for the delay. The interior became filled with endless spawns of Viruses and it took a while to blow out the blast doors. But here we are now!" Omega apologized.

"Let's go, Rock Man!"

"Roger, sir!"

"Whatever! Fight until you die without protest and are exposed as fake heroes and mere fools!" Mors grumbled.

The three robots drew the old sword Burai had used to employ and jumped towards each fighter while building up energy on each hand which glowed with elemental energy.

"Gotcha, ugly. Plasma Shot! Hrah!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Demon Rings! Eat this!"

"Alright! Time for some Mega Cards! Cygnus Wing X! Grave Joker X! Spade Magnets X! Charge Shot!"

Omega shot a plasma attack at the chest of the northern robot and then drove his blade into the miniature fusion core inside of it: Sigma used some pale and thin blue rings to paralyze the eastern robots and drive his massive sword through it as well while Rock Man delivered a massive amount of damage using the three Mega Cards and one Charge Shot to blow up the leftmost robot.

"Surprise, surprise…! 1 opponent this time around, guys!"

A new capsule dropped into the water and joined the others which had accumulated there: a figure jumped out in and landed in the midst of the field: everyone gasped.

"Vadous didn't have enough with _two_ OOPArts… What if you actually held or were able to resonate with the other two…? This would be the result in his imagination! Tribe King!"

"Tribe… King!"

"…Unit S3 Fifteen… Form of Tribe King... Orders: annihilate all life-forms…!"

The "Tribe King" combined the three forms yet the main body seemed to be that of the "Berserk" form.

The shades were a mix of red, green and yellow.

The left and right arms were designed as being part of the "Shinobi" and "Dinosaur" forms: the left forearm had the "Berserk" sword on it and the right forearm the infamous missile launcher.

The left shoulder had a _shuriken_ on it and the right one had claws emerging from it

"Kaiser Delta Breaker!"

The "Tribe King" robot drew a blue empty triangle with the "Berserk" sword and drew each OOPArt symbol on each vortex: a tri-colored stream of energy in the form of pyramidal prism shot out and hit all three combatants yet they quickly recovered.

"Plasma Shot!"

"Demon Laser!"

"Wing Blade~!"

Omega melted the first layer of the chest armor, Sigma shot two red laser beams from his eyes which set the ground on fire and the copy of Acid Ace rammed into the robot: Omega then drove his sword into its core and blew it up.

"Hmpf. So you've made it until Round 3… 13 opponents! I'll send two groups of 5, a lone opponent, and one of 2 opponents. Round 3, Group 1! Go!"

Five capsules landed in the water and five opponents came out of it: Rock Man gasped and so did Omega and Sigma.

"Unit S3 Sixteen… Form of Libra Noise. Orders: destroy all life-forms."

"Unit S3 Seventeen… Form of Corvus Noise. Orders: destroy all life-forms."

"Unit S3 Eighteen… Form of Cancer Noise. Orders: destroy all life-forms."

"Unit S3 Nineteen… Form of Gemini Noise. Orders: destroy all life-forms."

"Unit S3 Twenty… Form of Ophiucus Noise. Orders: destroy all life-forms."

"T-those are…! The Noise Change forms I currently have! I've used all of them plenty of times ever since the Meteor G Incident and when I fought Sirius inside of the Black Hole…!" Rock Man gasped.

"Heh! At least something we can tackle!"

"Hmmm… So the other group has gotta be… Another variant of Noise Change forms which you haven't ever used…" Omega guessed.

"This is starting to look dangerous." Sigma grumbled.

"Meteor Light Barrage!"

"Atomic Blazer!"

"Dynamic Wave!"

"Thunderbolt Blade!"

"Elemental Cyclone!"

"Rock Man! Take this device: it has several extra Folders on it which I've made up on the way here. You can switch between each one yet I couldn't override the normal restrictions of only 3 equal cards, 5 Mega Cards and 1 Giga Card!" Omega told him as he tossed him what looked like a Hunter – VG carcass.

"Thank you, sir!"

Rock Man attached it to his Hunter – VG and it glowed with a golden light as the symbol for "Omega" colored pale blue formed over it: he grinned and shielded himself to endure the bombardment of the robots: he focused his attention on the Ophiucus Noise one with green shades.

"Ox Fire X! Apollon Flame X! Burn up!"

Both attacks crippled the robot and Rock Man faced the Cancer Noise Robot (it had blue shades) next as it was seemingly reloading energy.

"Not so fast. Gemini Spark X! Spade Magnets X! Charge Shot! Go down already! You persistent enemies!

The combination overwhelmed this robot and blew it up as well while Rock Man spotted how Sigma beat down the Corvus Noise robot (red shades) using his mere fists to bend his armor and damage internal components: Omega was cutting the Libra Noise robot (brown shades) into pieces and the Gemini Noise robot (yellow shades) tried to attack Rock Man.

"Take this! Club Strong X! Wood +30! Grass Stage! Jungle Storm!"

The powerful tie-in combos were more than what the robot could handle and it blew up along with the other two (all of their Hunter – VGs were redesigned to not look like War Rock): Mors sounded resigned by now.

"I was having fun yet… All good things come to an end. Like on the Demoniac Day… But I rather not think of that…" He muttered like he'd forgotten the mike was still on.

"Guess it's a trauma of the guy." Omega muttered.

"Group 2… Meet the new-gen Noise Changes!"

"Unit S3 Twenty – One. Form of Cygnus Noise. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"Unit S3 Twenty – Two. Form of Ox Noise. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"Unit S3 Twenty – Three. Form of Virgo Noise. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"Unit S3 Twenty – Four. Form of Crown Noise. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"Unit S3 Twenty – Five. Form of Wolf Noise. Orders: annihilate all life-forms…"

"Whoa!"

The Cygnus Noise robot used white and sky blue colors on the boots and body armor while including two wings.

The upper part of the helmet was reminiscent of Cygnus Wing's own design: the shades were colored sky blue.

"Next goes…" Omega muttered.

The Ox Noise used a tint of red which looked like dried blood and included Ox's horns on both sides of the head.

The shades were colored in the same color as the body.

It also had some dots on the shoulders a yellowish/orange piece of armor below the neck and in the middle of the chest:

"Third place is for…" Sigma grinned.

The Virgo Noise used a white metallic shade of coloring with two navy blue lines spanning the width of the shoulders.

The helmet included a gray metallic piece over it: the white color was used in the shades.

"Fourth one's an electrical maniac!" War Rock joked.

Crown Noise used lush green coloring but the helmet's upper part was orange in coloring.

It included a slightly brighter piece spanning the middle of the helmet and the shades' color of choice was lush green.

"Last one…!" Rock Man muttered.

Lastly, Wolf Noise used another shade of green which looked closer to blue than green itself.

The shades used the same coloring as the rest of the body did.

The shape of Wolf Forest's claws was visible on the shoulders and on the helmet's design.

"Meteor Light Barrage!"

"Atomic Blazer!"

"Dynamic Wave!"

"Thunderbolt Blade!"

"Elemental Cyclone!"

"Here we go again! Rock Man! You can shift Battle Cards which you've used with new ones!" Omega told him.

"Wow! Thank you, sir! You, Ox Fire imitator! Eat this! Queen Virgo X! Charge Shot!"

Queen Virgo summoned the "Hydro Dragon" and the multiple hits followed by the Charge Shot made smithereens of the Ox Noise robot so Rock Man focused on the Crown Noise robot in the next place once he received the Thunderbolt Blade attack.

"Ophiucus Queen X! Poison Storm!"

Ophiucus Queen used her "Quick Serpent" attack to stain the field with Poison Panels and Rock Man then drained them to hit the robot 10 times with the special weapon: the robot was turned into scrap and he began to smile.

"Recovery 300, Recovery 200, Recovery 150! Next one! Show up!"

The Cygnus Noise robot challenged Rock Man since the Wolf Noise robot was having trouble with Omega and the Virgo Noise form was struggling to attack Sigma.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Demon Rings! Demon Knuckles!"

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm Cincinnati's butcher! Run for your defunct and extinct steam locomotives!"

"I fail to see the point of that." Mors muttered as if he'd yet again forgotten to switch off the speakers.

"Huff… Sheesh. He's not the only one. Moon Disaster X! Burai X! Phantom Black X! Vanish!" Rock Man muttered before announcing his attacks.

Moon Disaster spun to the left three times and shot "Moon Cutters" before spinning right once: Burai delivered four consecutive hits to the enemy and Phantom Black's "Phantom Claw" gripped the robot to then crush it.

"We're done over here." Omega grinned.

"Come at full power!" Sigma taunted.

"Group 3… Go!"

A single robot came out of the capsule and Rock Man gasped upon spotting its design.

"Burai Noise…! The Noise I ended up unlocking when battling Tabuu, the "Nomad Emissary"…!"

"Unit S3 Twenty – Six. Form of Burai Noise. Orders: annihilate all life-forms."

The only changes from the Burai Noise were thick purple shades and the old "Burai Sword" instead of the modern "Laplace Blade" yet the robot delivered four consecutive hits to Rock Man: Omega jumped to the front instead and he suddenly drove the blade into the space mid-way across the chest and formed a circle before ripping the armor protecting the core and attaching something to it: he then kicked the robot into the water.

"Boom."

The robot exploded and Mors began to sound increasingly frustrated given his mumbling.

"Last… Descend!"

"Unit S3 Twenty – Seven. Form of Finalize Black Ace. Orders: annihilate all life-forms."

"Unite S3 Twenty – Eight. Form of Finalize Red Joker. Orders: annihilate all life-forms."

"R-Red Joker…! Another Finalize form…!"

"True! This was the prototype "Joker Program" which the Satella Police began to develop using Grave Joker as basis but was then abandoned when he defected and they came up with the "Ace Program" which was basically a slightly modified version of the earlier prototype. So? Does it look grand?" Mors explained before asking.

The "Red Joker" form used crimson red as its main coloring.

The helmet had a crimson red color with two yellow diamond-like pieces on the middle of each further edge and black pieces on the closer edge.

A piece with an inner grayish edge and a partial outer black edge which had the overall form of the Alphabet "U" letter merged with the forehead. A black diamond with an orange-like sphere set on a cavity which had been cut on the middle of it showed up from inside the large forehead piece, too.

Lastly, a golden inverted triangle had been drawn upon the center of the forehead as a prominent symbol: the robot's shades had been colored crimson red.

The armor around the chest had two bolts' tops which seemed to connect the three pieces of it: the lines running down the sides of the robot's body became yellow and two crimson red pieces of armor formed close to the start of the hips: the armor around the neck was metallic grey in color, too.

The forearms were encompassed within crimson red cones with yellow edges around the wrists: metallic armor covered the rest of the wrist area as well and black/grey pieces came out from the forearms' armor.

The shoulders contained two massive pieces of armor which looked like both halves of the Alphabet "V" letter.

Two discs having an external black edge, an inner thin yellowish edge and a red dome built on the core were set on the upper ends of the shoulder-mounted-pieces: yellowish energy emanated from them and made them look powerful and imposing.

The legs' armor started at around the knees and its main color was crimson red yet the frontal part was a mix of yellow edge outer, blackish inner edge and two grayish triangles.

The side armor included a piece which had another color resembling metallic red: the armor around the ankles had two bolts connecting the pieces and the feet were protected by grayish/blackish metallic armor.

The Black Ace robot was identical in design to the normal Black Ace form except for the redesigned Hunter – VG and the black thick shades.

"Red Joker: Super Armor and Status Guard! Isn't that a good combination of abilities?" Mors teased.

"Holy Panel, Barrier 200!" The three of them exclaimed in unison.

"Black End Galaxy!"

"Red Gaia Eraser!"

Both attacks swept the ground: the effects of the BEG were nullified by the Barrier 200 while the RGE's power was cut in half by the Holy Panels.

"Let's go! Plasma Shot! Upwards Strike!"

"Demon Rings! Demon Laser!"

"Libra Balance X! Wolf Forest X! Crown Thunder X!"

Omega and Sigma focused on the BA robot while Rock Man formed Libra Balance and shot two projectiles of opposing elements at the RJ robot: Wolf Forest shot a swing forward and then delivered an upper: Crown Thunder made several thunderbolts rain down in "X" pattern.

"Self-destruct mode: activated."

Both robots blew up: they heard someone walking "above" them and Mors dropped down in the middle of the arena while having the "Ultimate Orb" on his hands.

"Warp! Targets: Sigma, Omega! Location: WAXA Japan Branch!"

The "warp" effect formed under the feet of Sigma and Omega and they were warped: Mors looked up with an almost psychotic look to his face.

"Heh! Rock Man. No – one will get in the way. Showdown!"

"Wait! Does that mean that…?" Rock Man gasped.

"Ultimate Orb! Awaken the last ability hidden in your programming! The ability I programmed…! Which will allow me to become above a mere mortal! Now activate! _Aukanios metaos Gigas kaia jazee!_ In the name of the almighty King Gigas! _Denpa – Henkan! On Air!_"

The orb began to shine and turned into a spheroid of purple light: it hovered and attached to Mors' chest: energy began to build up around his body and surround it: he laughed as Rock Man used his right arm to shield.

_W-what's going to happen…?_


	11. Chapter 11: Prince Howsad

**Chapter 11: Prince Howsad**

19:36 PM (Shanghai Time), Wednesday September the 8th…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! I did it! I have done it! At last… I have gained the power of Denpa – Henkan! Now I will cast this name aside and pick up my true royal name!"

"W-whoa!"

"My name is _Prince Kuroban Howsad_! Son of Kuroban Gigas! Heir to the On'Setsu Kingdom! I have overcome millennia and "death" itself! And now I shall lead the remains of my people back to glory!"

Darkus Mors, or, rather, Prince Kuroban Howsad, had gained a new armor over his body colored purple on the outer edges but black on the center.

The helmet design was compact and thick included silver plating around the neck and its base, a main purple and black coloring, black shades and a green symbol which looked like a unicursal hexagram colored pale green and having some unknown runes written on its circular edge was painted on the forehead.

The same symbol was set on the middle of his chest.

His shoulders were black ellipsoids with purple-colored outer edges and having some other green fluorescent runic symbols drawn over them.

His arms "skin" was black in color and the armor over the forearms had an external golden rim from which three parallel golden lines extended until the fingertips.

The feet armor started at the knees and used a tint of purple for the outer edges but the main armor kept on using the black motif: silver-colored lines extended parallel to each other until the feet fingertips.

The unarmored body "skin" was also black in color and had intricate green fluorescent patterns running down its sides, front and rear.

His design was reminiscent of Rock Man and of Burai at the same time.

"P-Prince… Kuroban… Howsad…!"

"Come! Aristeros Shield! Dexia Sword!"

A white shield which had the same runes engraved on its rim and a 3-layered set of circles with the hexagram on the very center formed in front of his left hand.

A sword with a golden hilt and a pale green blade appeared in front of his right hand: he picked both weapons and looked up towards Rock Man.

"Heh, heh, heh. No more games, Rock Man. I saved up this for this very moment. All those stories about that "new Dealer" thing and me working for that "King" man were foolish covers I drew up to protect my real identity…" He chuckled.

"So you're the current descendant of the old monarchy which must exist underground or have civilian IDs to hide." Rock Man calmly guessed.

"Wrong. There's no current monarchy bloodline! I was the last, back when the hordes of Mu reached the battlements of our administrative palace and central court of the On'Setsu Kingdom: Kanaiaas! That city was razed to the ground and wiped from History! Yet, I… I live on. Thanks to the "Ultimate Orb" and to this _host_…!" He laughed.

"W-what! Y-you're a human from millennia ago…? Are you immortal…?"

"No! My body died back then. Yet the "Ultimate Orb", result of many years of trial and error was our salvation! My father authorized me to come up with a system which linked my consciousness to the "Ultimate Orb" and allowed it to be stored as a program! What is human consciousness to begin with? Mere electrical signals! It is the game of a child to connect them with a specially designed container! Thus my body died yet my mind slept for untold ages… That is, until this _host_ awakened me… And I have returned!" He exclaimed.

"Host…? Wait a min! Then the agent who was sent to that Bermudas base to find something and never came back wasn't you… King mistook you for him because you are actually acting as a split personality to his body! This is not your real face… You have "possessed" this agent and went around using his body!" Rock Man gasped.

"Correct! I am, after all, a program! Stored in the "Ultimate Orb"… After the Mu victory they tried to seize the secrets of it yet without the traitor who had aided them being dead they were unable to decipher anything of it or be able to deal with the guarding "Four Heavenly Kings"! So they split it into pieces and hid them across the world including their own continent which they then sealed up. The core essence, what became the "Lost Orb", was hidden below a military base in the Bermudas. And in February, 2204, someone came inside of it by pure coincidence. This man had been wounded when trying to sneak into the base and ended up falling inside of the crypt via an air duct they'd partly excavated into it thus eluding the doors locked with the Mu passwords." He narrated.

"And when he touched it hoping that bringing it back would allow him to live and his mission not to be considered a failure… Yet the mere act of touching it must've triggered something on it, right?"

"Correct! The whole system had been designed to be activated after scanning the biological data of the person. And given how it didn't match any entry on the databases, then it activated and used a special type of wireless transmission to lodge my program into a patch of his brain: he didn't notice anything at first and I didn't because the process took a while to happen: he managed to run out with the "Lost Orb" in tow and began to make his way back to Japan. But given how the militia men in the base were persistent on searching for this man, he had to be constantly hiding and in situations of stress. I began to take consciousness of myself as I examined the man's memories. Eventually, after about two weeks of having tried to make up a slightly decent Japanese enough to ask for directions or such I let the man come to Japan and I subconsciously guided him elsewhere… The Dream Island secret basement which this man knew about given how he had heard rumors about its existence… Given how no – one cared to keep the place secret anymore, then it proved to be a good hideout… And I began to root myself in his brain." He told him.

"And eventually took over. You wrote off his personality?"

"Write off? No. I merely cut off all inputs to it and placed it on a "low profile" mode. A dreamless and black sleep…"

"Like a coma…"

"Correct. But like _death_ as well… That happened around June. By then the Meteor G Crisis had been solved and you were famous. I immediately picked interest on you after I heard you had defeated Ra Mu and brought the Mu Continent back into the bottom of the ocean. I kept on exploring the nearby world and began to make use of the "Warp" ability once I used this man's Hunter – VG to get a digital world map... And when fumbling around a secret military facility in the Bermudas, I found this: a new warfare vessel! I immediately seized it and turned into my refuge. I began to research more and more to get an idea of how the world had evolved over the eras. It felt satisfying to know that Mu had faded from all history and was considered no more than a "legend" or "myth"! They got what they deserved. And I did find that flying rock… The "Palace"… I found intriguing information there but it was incomplete. Hence why I interrogated you and your companion about Vadous…"

"… And what are you planning on doing by defeating me?"

"I said it, did not I? Return to the land of my antecessors where I know some people still believe in an underground monarchy getting ready to allow them to rise back into glory. And given how my name has been lost to the ages, they won't question it. Should I add an interesting detail? I was twenty-two when the final battle. I now am twenty-three. This man's biological age is fourteen. I have rejuvenated by almost ten years to the age when _it_ happened… It changed my life and my perceptions… It destroyed my _naïve_ self… And I became a mature man."

"Huh? Some kind of traumatic event…?" Rock Man guessed.

"True. Yet… Back then… It could be truly said that I looked like you: _naïve_ and innocent to the world outside the walls of the castle and palace… Battlements aren't just built to defend from invaders but to isolate yourself and build your myth that all there is to the world is inside of the battlements… But after the battlements crumble you are left without knowing what to do. You built your own battlements when your father was reportedly dead, too. You despised "outsiders"… The world was just your own "battlements"…" He explained.

"… True…" Rock Man admitted.

"Well then… I believe there has been enough talk. My HP values clock at 2500 HP. Yet… If you were to bring them to 0, I shall not be deleted. Instead my armor will dissolve and I most likely will lose consciousness given body exhaust. Yet… I know I am not the first person you have met which has had more than one personality… Wasn't there a man who became to the host of the infamous "Thunder God" Gemini who had split personality, too?" Howsad smiled.

"… Yeah. But his case is different. He formed that split personality as a result of a greater psychological shock." Rock Man dully replied.

"… Oi, Subaru… I've been trying to analyze the scope of this guy's power but I can't get a hold of any values… I'd say you act like this was Burai at top power…" War Rock whispered.

"Yeah. I know."

"Ah. And I can use Battle Cards yet I am limited by the very same technology you are. It fits with me. There are limits to things, after all, and one cannot have everything in life… That bothersome traitor… Taking advantage of its position and rank… Trying to become the proxy ruler of that land… But Father did what had to be done: he wasted no time and quickly sent that off. Yet that loathsome Erand Soldier had to drive its blade through me. Hence why I despite them. Machines… War fought by machines, by proxy, from the safety of a refuge thousands of miles away, you say? That is not real war! War is fought by swords, by shields, by lances, by bows! By warriors! Not machines and proxies! A cleaner and safer battlefield, they say? Reducing the number of fallen ones, they say? What fools! Humans nowadays find everything unnecessary and military have softened up to the point the plebeians rule over them! What has become of the wars which were fought over the plains? Siege? Proxy? Sabotage? Fifth columns? Rubbish, all of them! Now… Get ready, Rock Man! Talk-time has finished!" He exclaimed with his foreign accent once he finished his exposition.

"Last Battle! Ride On!"

"Battle Card, Hammer Weapon X! Heavy Down X!"

"Battle Card, Holy Panel! Jet Attack X!"

Howsad lifted his sword into the air and it dematerialized so that he could grab the Hammer Weapon X and hit the ground with it yet Rock Man brought up his shield to protect himself and then formed a Holy Panel: he was hit by the next attack but the Holy Panel helped cut the damage: he countered with the Jet Attack X thus hitting Howsad and making him recoil without having seemingly noticed any actual pain: Rock Man resumed his default position.

"Battle Card, Ground Wave X! Radar Missile!"

"Battle Card, Drill Arm X! Hurricane Dance!"

Rock Man got hit by both attacks but he attacked Howsad who kept on acting like he wasn't receiving any damage: he suddenly reformed his sword and aimed at the sky.

"Dexia Sword!"

The sword warped and appeared in front of Rock Man while drawing a wide arch of action thus hitting Rock Man twice before returning to Howsad's right hand.

"Battle Card, Destroy Upper! Platinum Meteor!"

"Battle Card, Wind Attack X! Giant Axe!"

"Hah! Aristeros Shield!"

Howsad delivered an uppercut to Rock Man followed by a rain of meteors into his field: Rock Man tried to attack Howsad twice but the shield seemingly blocked part of the attacks: Rock Man gasped as he realized it.

"The damage…! The shield cut in half even though I used a Break – type Battle Card…!" He muttered.

"Che! This guy isn't kidding. Be careful, Subaru!"

"Heavenly Flames!"

The purple flames formed on the field and latched into Rock Man who had to jump into the water to put them out and then climb back into the stage only to find Howsad holding an Edogiri Blade X on his right forearm: he attacked Rock Man with it but Rock Man suddenly grinned.

"Muramasa Blade~!"

"The accursed sword…!" Howsad gasped.

Rock Man hit him with the blade and pushed him backwards: Howsad looked up and formed a smug smile.

"Hmpf… So this shall not be as boring as I thought it would be. Very well, then. Deny me." He challenged.

"Not bad, Subaru! That jerk lost over 50% of the total HP values! Some well-placed hits and we win this battle!" War Rock whispered.

"This is where it gets harder." Rock Man shot back.

"Battle Card, Elec Slash! Wood Slash! Fire Slash!"

"Recovery 300, Recovery 200, Barrier!"

Howsad's first attack was nullified and he hit Rock Man with the other two attacks yet given his healing he ended up largely unaffected: Howsad merely stepped back in a manner similar to a fencing duelist and formed his "Dexia Sword" back into his right hand.

"Battle Card, Ice Grenade, Plasma Gun X!" Rock Man announced.

"What!"

Rock Man's "Ice Grenade" hit the ground near Howsad and trapped him on a mass of ice followed by the "Plasma Gun X" which inflicted major damage thanks to the combination of the Ice Grenade and Howsad ending up trapped on it: he growled.

"Less than 600 HP points to go, Subaru! Go!"

"Roger!"

"You fool… Heavenly Waves! Heavenly Fissure!"

The waters around the platform stirred and a fissure formed on the ground from where several boulders shot out to hit Rock Man: the waters then formed a tidal wave which washed Rock Man out of the platform and into the water: Howsad leapt across the air and landed atop him while pointing the blade at his neck.

"Hmpf. So the "hero" has fallen into disgrace by now as is just a shadow of its self…" He muttered with some disappointment.

"Battle Card, Impact Cannon! Mad Vulcan X!"

"I-Impossible… Aristeros Shield!"

"Crap!"

The "Aristeros Shield" reduced some of the damage and Howsad suddenly hit the second rim of the 3-rimmed drawing on the shield's surface to form that same circle around him and seemingly do something to his sword which began to glow with a fluorescent green light.

"That was close but that was because I lowered my guard. Yet now I shall spell doom for you, Rock Man. Curse of Sorcerer!"

A rune showed up on Rock Man's chest and it began to glow with a blood red color as Rock Man clutched it.

"Crap…! Another HP bug…!" He groaned.

"By all the… What a guy!"

"Not yet…! It ain't over yet, Howsad…! Hra~h…! Destroy Upper!"

Rock Man suddenly hit the platform with it and cracked part of the carcass thus exposing the circuitry: Noise began to be generated and he suddenly ripped two data wires which he connected to his Hunter – VG: Howsad gasped and was clearly not expecting such a move.

"I'll do the same I did in the final battle with Tabuu…! The programs are still installed, after all…! Noise Change! Burai! Now… The real battle begins now, Howsad!"

"W-what!"

Rock Man managed to transform into Burai Noise and he drew the Laplace Blade as well: he delivered a hit at Howsad and sent him flying across the room but he managed to land in a crouched position and stop his skidding across the ground before looking up.

"… Huff! That was close. Yet… I still have 35 HP points left! This battle is not over yet, Rock Man! This has become a battle between my nation and Mu! You who wield the power of Mu… And I who wield the power of the On'Setsu… Four Heavenly Kings! Call for the High One! The High One will allow us to turn the flow in our favor… And we shall triumph! High One! Descend! I shall offer you what you wish the most and you shall grant my desire!" He chanted as he held the "Dexia Sword" upwards.

"High One?" Rock Man wondered.

"It's a pity: I didn't program the High One but I can at least make a decent attempt at imaging its voice… "Mwah, hah, hah! So be it, Prince! You who have so much pride actually summoned me! Interesting! I shall see to it!" … Or something similar, I'd guess... Who cares?" He shrugged after playing a strange manly voice which sounded like it was echoing inside of a closed mouth.

"This guy believes in non-existent Gods which he can recreate via holograms or what?" War Rock wondered.

"Looks like it…"

"Forbidden Blast!"

"Huh? What!"

A fireball formed on the "sky" and expanded until it hit the ground around Rock Man and formed spirals of flames which latched to his body and actually began to erase part of it thus revealing his human body beneath it: he roared in agony while Howsad merely aimed the blade towards him and began to walk at a steady pace towards him.

"And such it ends here! The power of Mu is "empty"! They cannot hold the upper hand anymore! The On'Setsu kingdom shall be revived and we Kuroban family shall rule once again! Be gone, Rock Man!"

He lifted the sword and began to aim towards his exposed chest when the "Ultimate Orb" suddenly began to pulsate with a bluish light and Howsad's movement stopped half-way through it.

"… Return… to… me…" A weak voice muttered.

"W-who the…?" He cursed.

"… Body… Me…! Return to…!" The voice muttered again.

"You lowlife…? But you should be locked up behind five layers of passwords only I can pronounce!" Howsad cursed.

"It ain't that hard using a supercomputer like mine to analyze speech pitch and try to find a logical sentence structuring plus some data on the names of the "Four Heavenly Kings" plus the name "Higher One", Kuroban Howsad…" Vadous suddenly announced out of nowhere.

"What! Vadous! Where are you?"

"In the command console room just above this room from where you dropped all the robots… You still don't know why we knew you were here, though?" Vadous calmly replied.

"Huh? I thought the email I sent reached you!"

"True. But there was something else: a tracer. And it included the ability to hack into the orb, too. It wasn't easy but my persistence has paid off: I'm a pretty good hacker, after all." Vadous told him.

"You lowlife…! Come down and fight me!" Howsad challenged him by looking upwards.

"No. Because you lied to Rock Man… If your HP got to 0, your Denpa – Henkan form would release but you would be very conscious indeed and more than capable of finishing him off."

"W-what…!" Subaru gasped.

His Denpa – Henkan body had stopped being erased and he was trying to remain on his feet: War Rock sighed in relief and sounded glad the thing had stopped, too.

"I'm going to invoke a reversal of roles here. I obviously dunno the whole system tree of the software given its technology yet I found the original host's file. Time for another nap, Howsad. Rebuilding nations ain't gonna be done just by killing others and having fun with it." Vadous dully announced.

"Impossible!"

"Good night."

"GROA~H!"

Howsad dropped into his knees and clutched his head as the "Ultimate Orb" began to pulse with a quick bluish light: his Denpa – Henkan form and weapons dematerialized and the "Ultimate Orb" hovered into the air: it suddenly turned red and began to emit a loud ear-piercing shrill: it then emitted a powerful white flash and, when it cleared, it was gone: Subaru looked around in surprise.

"What happened…?" He asked.

"Eh… I dunno, too. I got kicked out of the system and didn't get to see what it did. Guess we'll have to take the host to the HQ and check if he's really returned to normal or Howsad is still in control."

"What are we gonna do with this place, anyway?"

"Hmmm… I'd say we leave it as it is: I'll leave some safe-guards in case someone tries to take it yet almost no – one would wander so close to the Mu Continent remains…" Vadous replied.

He suddenly dropped down from above and picked the unconscious host: he then snapped his right hand's fingers and a purple-colored gateway-like opening formed in the midst of the room.

"Let's go, Subaru. You need a check-up, too. And please don't do that of the Noise feed into the Hunter – VG again… It most surely will end up broken again." Vadous sighed.

Subaru blushed and scratched the back of his head while War Rock chuckled and tapped his shoulders…


	12. Chapter 12: After the battle

**Chapter 12: After the battle**

21:11 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday September the 8th…

"… Uh-unh… Uh… Huh… Where… am I…?"

"Hum. It isn't that guy, then."

"Eh… What's your name?"

"Name…? Kiboyama… Gino…"

"I'm Hoshikawa Subaru. Relax. The worst is over."

"The worst…? What do you mean…?"

"Huh? You didn't notice anything?"

"Don't hurry it up, Subaru…"

"Roger, Master…"

Subaru was standing in a small metallic room which contained a black examination table like the ones in a medic's consulting room (and where Kiboyama Gino, who had blue eye irises, was lying at): the other pieces of furniture included a wooden desk built into the north wall, a rotating armchair and two capsule-like objects connected to a deposit on the eastern wall: the southern wall had a door marking the entry and exit of the room.

"Huh… What day is it today?"

"Wednesday September the 8th, 2205."

The man who Subaru named "Master" looked on his mid-20s and had black slightly messy hair plus brownish eyes: he had reading glasses on.

He wore a medic's coat with the ID "Dr. Kazimura Lartes" written on it and sported brown pants plus shoes.

"September 2205, you say? But the last thing I remember was around June 2204! What have I been doing during a year and roughly four months?" He gasped.

"Well… To make it short… A hostile personality program has been controlling your body and brain…" Subaru replied.

"… So that's why I sometimes I felt like there was an impulse changing my thoughts and my movements… I could feel a strong impulse to roam around Dream Island instead of having to go and trying to find my way back into the Dealer HQ… That orb thing was to blame?"

"Yeah. In essence."

"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, though. I'm Dr. Kazimura Lartes but you can name "Dr. Lartes" anyway because I'm not fond of bragging about my lineage." Dr. Lartes introduced.

"I'm Hoshikawa Subaru! Nice to meet you, Gino – kun."

"Hoshikawa… Subaru… kun…? Eh… But aren't you…?"

"Yeah. I'm Rock Man."

"Whoa!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. And War Rock – sama over here is the king of the world, ya see!" War Rock laughed.

"Oh. Shut up." Subaru snapped.

"Did I hit a spot, Subari~?"

"Whatever."

"The ever?"

"Go play with the VR Room!"

"VR Room… Eh… This isn't a clinic?" Kiboyama asked.

"More like my own research lab…" Dr. Lartes replied.

"And where are we?"

"Orbital path 3000 kilometers high…"

"EH! Orbital path, you say, sir?"

"Correct. This place is but one room of a gigantic spaceship. We're an organization named "Subspace" and we are collaborators of the Satella Police."

"What happened to the orb?" Kiboyama asked.

"That's the strange part. Once we locked down the hostile personality inside of it once again it flashed and vanished. We're searching for it inside of the behemoth." Dr. Lartes sighed.

"Behemoth, sir?"

"The place you'd been at as of late… A gigantic merger between a battleship and a submarine… It's huge on the inside so we're trying to search every nook and cranny. The orb thing must've had some kind of self-defense program to avoid destruction or damage so it's trying to hide somewhere…" Dr. Lartes told him.

"By the way… Did Dealer really cease to exist?"

"Yeah. Everyone there had their own goals and they were just using King to get to them. Joker was another tale because he was searching for a "Reason" and King provided the guy with one."

"Joker… What was he, though? He looked too tall for being a person and I then heard he'd been able to defeat a Wizard single-handedly…"

"An advanced Battle Wizard designed to harvest the power of the "Meteor Server" and "Finalize" into a form named "Grave Joker"… He was designed by the Satella Police and WAXA but he abandoned them in a quest to figure out his own "Reason"… And he ended up believing he had to root out all "weak" persons…" Subaru sighed.

"I see… What became of everyone, though?"

"Well… Queen Tia – sensei and Jack switched to our side, King is roaming around the world using Noise Waves, Heartless – san had also been using King and Joker self-destructed in a last botched attempt from King to take us "Raid Troop" out… So there's nothing left to Dealer anymore by now, see... You're free."

"Free… It sounds somewhat… comforting."

"Would like to be my "Brother"?" Subaru offered.

"W-whoa! Eh… Is that… alright?" He asked.

"Of course! I'm a very open person. Ah. I think you'll need to reconfigure your Hunter – VG first thing, though."

Subaru handed him a black-colored Hunter – VG and Kiboyama interacted with the "Real Wave" screen: he frowned and then gasped.

"Whoa! The "hostile person" you talked about was named Darkus Mors? He did look hostile… But that's my face!"

"Of course. He didn't change your look except for the eyes' irises which he must've done with some kind of holographic trick."

"Let's see… User name: Kiboyama Gino. There. Settled. And now… I form a "Brother Band" with Subaru – kun… Complete! Whoa… My very first "Brother Band"…! Cool…!" He muttered as he interacted with it.

"I think that if we pull a few strings, then…" Dr. Lartes muttered.

"… He'd be able to come to our school? But shouldn't we give him some time to think it over, Master?"

"True. Yet we have to do it before the weekend."

"… I'd like to." Kiboayama admitted as he slowly sat up.

"Then it's settled."

"Oi! Subari~! Omega's calling for ya~!"

"Omega – san? What does he want?"

"I found the Duke of Silliness." Omega reported.

"How dare you, plebeian!" Phantom Black cursed.

"Phantom Black… What a persistent guy."

"Cha, cha are the plebian."

"WHAT?"

"Go to Haiti and leave us alone, scriptwriter."

"Why, you…!" Phantom Black cursed.

"Or is that valet of yours gonna go and prepare you a King Land pudding for dinner?" Omega taunted.

"What! No! I didn't teach the guy about how to cook! And has no need to, either! My… eh… valet is very competent!" He seemingly improvised the word "valet" amongst the way.

"Hmmm…" Dr. Lartes sounded suspicious.

"He got an accomplice?" Subaru wondered.

"Would seem… Yet I wonder who'd be able to bear with his bossy and crazy behavior… Has to be someone who has poor criteria and is easily led away by others…" Dr. Lartes guessed.

"Phantom Black…? I thought he was the one behind the TK Tower Incident at the start of the Mu Continent Crisis?"

"Yeah. And he has a grudge related to me given how I beat him thrice and he's had to fend off alone." Subaru rolled his eyes.

"Rock Man! I hear you lowlife's voice…! Come out and be destroyed by my _scenario_!" Phantom Black exclaimed.

"Go to Haiti, Phantom, and leave us alone." Subaru snapped back with obvious annoyance.

"That's why I said…" Phantom began arguing.

"Shut up! This place is my climax!"

"_Hai_, _hai_…"

"Oh. There's a diamond there." Omega gasped.

"A diamond! Where! Where is it?"

"Gotcha."

"Let go of my cape, you fiend!"

"Let's go breathe some fresh air. This elevator will take both of us to the deck!" Omega chuckled.

"You lowlife…! Phantom Slash!"

"Slow."

BLOF! PATAF! CRASH! THUD! SMASH!

"Guwa~h! YOU LOWLIFES…!" He roared.

"Yeah, I know. Come over here. I press this button and up we go. I'm gonna show ya the road to Haiti sans the need of a GPS or to send you in a DHL – certified package." Omega laughed.

"Let go of me!"

"Not good." Phantom muttered.

"Ping! Hop! Here we are! Breathe some nocturnal air! And now… Get going to Haiti! Hop, hop and hop!"

"Guwa~h! I SHALL REMEMBER THIS AS LONG AS I AM THE DUKE OF HYDE~!" He roared.

"There he goes flying all the way to Haiti! And my trick works by grabbing their capes and use those to spin them around."

"Yeah, yeah. Get back to searching. Boss registered the energy signature of that thing so it shouldn't be too hard for you to trace it down. Beware of any traps." Dr. Lartes sighed.

"Eh… That "Omega" person is a Wizard, too?"

"Not exactly… He's more of an android but is capable of performing "Denpa – Henkan" as well. His humor is enough to get into anyone's nerves, though! Don't let him corner you with cheaply edited photos showing you going out in a date with someone else: he's fond of stirring jealousy up." Dr. Lartes warned with a sigh.

"Oi! Subari~! The phone's ringing!"

"Subaru~! Help me~!" Gonta pleaded.

"What's wrong, Gonta?" He frowned.

"I can't solve it!" He groaned.

"Solve… What?" Subaru asked.

"What else! The summer holiday homework!"

"That's… Look, Gonta! You can't hope that there'll always be someone who will get you out of a pinch the whole time. You've gotta assume some responsibilities!" Subaru grumbled.

"B-b-b-b-but!" He uttered.

"No "buts". If _iinchou_ ordered that, then bear with it."

"Wha~h! The world's cruel with me~!"

"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to your evil cousin." War Rock laughed.

"What the…! I don't have an evil cousin!"

"Ask Ox!"

"Buro~! Don't involve the great me into this guy's messes!"

"Ox! Ya suck!"

"Buro~! What!"

"This is official: ya fail at everything!"

"This big-mouthed jerk…!"

"Enough! Both of you!" Subaru growled.

"Don't get in our way, Subaru! Buro~!" Ox threatened.

"Yeah! This is a conflict between equals!" War Rock laughed.

"Equals? May I remind you that you lived in Planet AM?" Subaru looked pretty annoyed by now.

"Whatever!"

War Rock vanished and Ox also did so: Subaru rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead in defeat while Kiboyama blinked and Dr. Lartes sounded exasperated.

"What guys!" He muttered.

"Huh… Was that a friend of yours, Subaru – kun?"

"Yeah. Ushijima Gonta. He's not a bad guy, really, but he tends to get obsessed with food and forgets about everything else like, in this case, summer vacation homework… I'll introduce you to them after you rest for a while." Subaru made a weak smile.

"Warning. Ongoing battle outside of Firewall #01. Combatants: AM War Rock and FM Ox. Both labeled as "allies". State course of action, if any, to be taken." An auto-voice warned.

"This burn-'em-all jerk…!"

"This slice-'em-all jerk…!"

"Beast Swing!"

"Ox Fire!"

"Hrah!"

"Grah!"

"I win this round, you bull wannabe! Come after me and let's go settle in on Madrid!" War Rock laughed.

"What! You treat me like a bull participating in that barbaric event? I'll give you a lesson, predator wannabe!" Ox growled.

"Wha~t? Repeat that if ya have the guts to!" War Rock challenged.

"Predator wannabe!" Ox repeated.

"Invader wannabe!" War Rock shot back.

"Your hide!" Ox taunted.

"Your aunt!" War Rock shot back.

"Enough!" Vadous roared.

"Che!"

"Che!"

"Get outta here!"

"So, Boss… Any luck?" Dr. Lartes asked via his Hunter – VG.

"No. That bloody orb is nowhere to be found. But given what little thing it can do without someone operating it from the outside… I guess it fled to somewhere at random. With some luck it will de-power alone and remain dormant for another bunch of millennia." Vadous fumed.

"Let's hope so. By the way, could we use Guest Room #04 as Kiboyama's own room?" Dr. Lartes suggested.

"Go ahead. Welcome onboard, Kiboayama."

"T-thank you very much, sir!" He nervously thanked.

"Yo~! B-B-B-B-B-Bertie~! Kiboayama was Futaba's lover back when 4-A class! Aren't ya gonna say something about that?" Omega laughed.

"No. Because you made it up on the spot, sir."

"OMEGA~! Let's not start already! Get your hide back here and we'll TALK of SERIOUS stuff!" Vadous roared.

"Kiboyama. Get ready, because Omega has targeted you and it'll be hard to shake him off. Really… What have we done to deserve this? Why does our ship look like a fool's ship?" Dr. Lartes grimly muttered.

"Well then, Gino – kun… I need to be going, but I've thought of something: we'll go the cinema on Saturday!" Subaru smiled.

"W-whoa! T-thank you, Subaru – kun!"

"Hey! That's why we're friends to begin with." Subaru replied.

Subaru extended his right hand forward and Kiboyama accepted it: they did a handshake and Dr. Lartes smiled...

14:14 PM (Normandy Time)…

"… Installation: successful… Life-signs: stabilized… "Backup Project" in awakening status… Starting fluid drain… Reanimation sequence: in progress… Equalizing pressure…"

An auto-voice rang out inside of a largely unlit room somewhere which had a strange metallic cylinder with two cone-shaped bases and a pair of thick black glass doors in front half of it.

A greenish glow was being emitted by the device and allowed one to see several wires running across the ground while heading for the central device: two devices set nearby formed "Real Wave" screens which displayed some data which looked like a life-support system's readout and a human's body diagram with several red blinking dots moving across its drawn veins and arteries.

Mechanical sounds plus the sound of a liquid running down a pipe could be heard as well.

"… Pressure: equalized… Life-support: shutting down… Nanomachines read-out: "ALL GREEN"… Blood flow: OK. Heartbeat count: nominal. EEG read-out: nominal. All systems: nominal"

Some small hatches opened and steam came out of it while building up: the doors silently slid inwards to open.

A figure which looked over a meter and eighty tall began to slowly step out: a low breathing sound which sounded like the person was breathing through as gas mask echoed as well as heavy footsteps.

The figure climbed down three steps and then took some paces forward before seemingly lowering the head to look at its hands and then spread the arms wide while slowly turning around its axis: the pose suggested joy.

"… Good afternoon, Master. You are now healed and ready for your next mission, sir. All information will be briefed to you in the next upcoming minutes, sir. High Command expects you to succeed in the mission, sir."

A filtered chuckle echoed inside of the room…


	13. Chapter 13: Brother Bands

**Chapter 13: Brother Bands**

09:30 AM (Japan Time), Saturday September the 11th…

"… Nya~h! That idiotic guy…! That fatty guy…! That silly guy…! That foolish guy…! That slow guy…! That loathsome guy…! That repulsive guy…! That baggy guy…! That disgraced guy…! I warned the guy: and played deaf! Get your neck ready…! My anger is about to explode…!"

"Is _i-iinchou_ like this the whole time, Subaru – kun…?"

"No… Only when Gonta oversleeps and doesn't make it on time to the meeting… We'd agreed to meet at 9:15 AM and he's 15 minutes late even though the Wave Liner stop is in front of his house…"

"Like Subaru – kun said, Gino – kun, Gonta – kun is a person who usually invokes _iinchou_'s anger."

"Heh! I think ya and I will get along. We come from the same background, after all."

"T-thanks, Jack – kun…"

"Cool it down, Luna – chan…"

"Don't get in the way, Mode!"

"Probabilities of a greater cataclysm happening currently clock at 98%, Kizamaro – kun."

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm a genius, yessir."

"Oi. You wouldn't have done something about it, right?"

"Who knows? Maybe the bull wannabe ditched him at last?"

"I doubt it, somehow."

Luna, Kiboyama, Subaru, Kizamaro, Jack, Mode, Pedia and War Rock had gathered in front of Gonta's house and next to the Wave Liner station: Luna was getting annoyed and wouldn't listen to anyone while the guys whispered: War Rock grinned and Subaru looked highly suspicious of him despite his attempts to switch topics.

"Wha~h! Sorry, sorry, sorry~! I couldn't find my shirt anywhere at all! I just couldn't come out sans my shirt, ya know? Sorry, sorry, sorry~!"

Gonta ran out and stopped to catch his breath but soon turned white upon seeing how Luna was obviously on the verge of exploding: he stepped back and gulped.

"… Gonta…!"

"Y-yes, ma'am…?" He nervously asked.

"YOU USELESS CHAOTIC BAG OF FATS AND CALORIES! WHEN I SAY I WANT EVERYONE TO BE HERE AT 9:15 AM… THEN YA GOTTA HAVE EVERYTHING READY BY THE EVENING OF THE PREVIOUS DAY~!" She yelled.

"P-please forgive me, _iinchou_!" He pleaded.

"NO! I MUST PROVE THAT I AM READY TO BECOME CLASS' 1-A'S _IINCHOU_ BY BEING STRICT! CHA STAY HERE AND MOURN TO THE GINGER BEEF! YOU PEOPLE! MOVE IT! WE WON'T MAKE IT ON TIME TO SEE _GHOST CRISIS 2: REVENGE OF THE SPECTERS_!" She commanded.

"R-roger!" They all confirmed.

They boarded the Wave Liner and Gonta remained there like he couldn't believe what had happened: he then spotted Ox hovering over the rooftop and humming a tune.

"Ox! No way! Ya did it?"

"Buro~! Punishment for not doing the work, ya see." He replied.

"No way!"

"Buro~! Way! Go work and then maybe I'll get your ticket."

"Grah… Why do these things always happen to me?" He cursed.

"Buro~! Ya know the answer! Move your fatty feet!"

"The world is cruel!" He cried.

"Buro~! See ya!"

09:50 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew! We'll still make it on time. That Gonta…! He deserved a lesson: I'm going to be SERIOUS about being 1 – A Class' _iinchou_!"

"Hiya~! Everyone~! Sorry for the wait!"

A girl wearing a brown trench coat, a navy blue cap and sunglasses plus sporting jeans and white sneakers caught up with them.

She made the silence sign with her right hand's index finger and they quickly nodded in agreement although Kiboyama looked surprised: she quickly took out a scratch of paper from her coat's right pocket with the name "Veronica" written into it.

"Ah… Veronica – chan, from 6 – B, right?" Subaru greeted.

She quickly nodded in confirmation and they headed inside of the shopping plaza: "Veronica" was looking around as if checking for something: Subaru nodded to War Rock: he smiled and vanished.

"GROARRRRR!"

"UWA~H! THE MONSTER FROM THE FILM CAME TO LIFE~! RUN FOR YOU LIFE~!"

"T-THIS IS THE LAST TIME I TAG ALONG YOU~! MORON!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Revenge~!"

Two men on their 30s ran out from behind an advertising banner and towards the exit while being chased by War Rock: everyone looked in that direction in a surprised manner expect for Subaru and "Veronica" who shrugged

"Not so fast. Super Hero – sama is gonna halt you grunts." Shidou's voice rang out from the outside.

"Wha! Satella Police! You moron! This is your fault!"

"Yours, Billy!"

"Yo! Acid Disaster! Here's your evidence~!"

"Jeez. Stop with that motto." Shidou grumbled.

"Let's see. Chloroform, cotton, adhesive tape, a taser, a cutter, and a Hunter – VG which doesn't seem to have the serial number printed to avoid tracing… Conclusion? Stalkers, kidnappers." One officer listed.

"And I'd also add you're guilty of communication interception, unlawful setting of microphones and of blackmail." Shidou added.

"That's your fault, Jimmy!"

"Yours, Billy!"

"Silence! The prosecutor will decide yet I'd rather say 9 years."

"9 YEARS?"

"Yeah. This is Japan. We take this stuff seriously. Lead them away while I check the situation over there." Shidou told the men.

"Your fault!"

"Yer aunt's fault!"

"Wha~t?"

"Bring it on, twerp!"

"And handcuff them before they kill each other, too."

"Roger, Akatsuki. Come over here, move it!"

"We'll remember this, techno jerk!"

"Techno jerk? That's a first." Shidou muttered with a hint of irony.

He and Acid stepped inside and he shrugged before heading over the group with a smile.

"_Case closed_!" He grinned.

"Huh? Will someone tell me what's going on? I feel confused yet glad those two bad guys were caught red-handed."

"Well…"

"These guys snuck inside of Okudama Studios as fake electricians working for a rival studio which is trying to get an exclusive. They then hatched this "strategy" to try to abduct a certain someone given how they'd intercepted information of that person coming here today. We noticed that and prepared this counter-strategy." Shidou grinned.

"Wait! Could that person be…?" Kiboyama gasped.

"Chut!" Shidou made the silence sign.

"Y-yes, sir! I apologize!"

"Come on! Forget it and enjoy the movie."

"So you're Rock Man's companion." A familiar voice rang out.

They spotted Solo leaning his back against a column, having his eyes folded and his arms folded: Laplace was hovering at his right while looking at everything: Solo was also holding a ticket out between his right hand's index and middle fingers.

"Yeah. But you could not say it aloud?" "Veronica" replied.

"We don't want to attract unnecessary people." Harp whispered.

"I don't want to, either. Let's go inside. And I still remember what happened in this city back when the Mu Continent affair. But I don't hold any grudges anymore: some talks with the elder have helped me get a better idea of things." He shrugged.

They headed upstairs into the 3rd floor and checked in the counter before entering the projection room and not noticing someone glancing towards the group while being hidden next a column: the figure made a low chuckle and ran off without the group spotting it as they picked their seats on the southern 3rd row.

"The projection will begin in 3 minutes' time: please switch off the sound of your Hunter - VGs." A speaker announced.

"Hmpf. Let's see if they were creative or at the very least bothered to try to be original." Solo muttered with a smug smile on his face.

"So, Subari~? Is Kiboyama gonna be the in-between?" War Rock teased in a hushed tone.

"No. And shut up."

"Heh, heh, heh. Hit a spot…!"

"Projection: start."

The lights dimmed and the "Real Wave" images of two men carrying ghost-busting machines showed up: they were looking around a city's alleyways while the full moon shone in the sky.

"Oi, Okenda! Didn't ya hear something?"

"They're close by, Zarenda!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! What bothersome foolish people!" A voice exclaimed.

"That's gotta be Boolis, the boss of the band!"

"Show up, Death-Scare Band! We're gonna bust ya!"

"Hmpf! Hah! To think these feeble humans would come to challenge me with such a loathsome device… Laughable! Truly laughable! Go, my minions! Exterminate them! Bring them their _deathly agony_! I am the King of the Black Phantoms!" The voice laughed.

"The Black Phantoms, then? Gotta be a new clan..."

"Sure thing, bro. Oi! Come out and face us if ya have the guts, evil-doer specter!"

"Hah! The King never comes out until they manage to overcome the battlements."

Some copies of the UMA "Phantom" colored black showed up around the two protagonists but they began to shoot out orbs of light from their machines which hit the "Black Phantoms" and deleted them: they then ran on ahead and found an M1 Tank colored silver waiting for them: they gasped and jumped to the sides.

"Ka-boom!"

"Wha!"

"These guys…!"

They managed to stand up but two "Black Phantoms" had showed up from inside to man the machine-guns: the protagonists took them out and the tank then rumbled as it began to hover into the air to then drop down and cause a shockwave which damaged the adjacent buildings as well: the two protagonists cursed under their breaths.

"How are we gonna get past that thing?"

"Let's detour!"

They managed to detour through the parallel alleyways and finally reached what looked like a decrepit church the bells of it which ringing: a graveyard had been built around it and tens of "Black Phantoms" armed with scythes were pullulating the area.

"We'll send you to the Forbidden World!" They chanted.

"Yeah! Bring it on! Take these!"

"Ghost-Buster V2!"

"Bothersome humans!"

A battle ensued and the ghost-busters managed to get the upper hand by using the gravestones as temporary shields and for cover: the church's doors creaked open and a purplish fog crept out along with a familiar chuckle.

"Now… Behold! With my Time-Space powers… I shall transcend from this fake world to the real world! I shall descend from the skies and be revered as the Evil Ones' envoy! You lowlifes are powerless before the King of the Black Phantoms! Wander in despair and hopelessness! The ritual to revive the _Shuuen no Mono_ is almost complete! He will rule the world with the God tribe's power!"

"The Tyrannical Being…?" Subaru wondered.

A purple vortex formed and expanded before stopping and imploding in a bright flash: two screams of agony rang out followed by an all-too-familiar chuckle.

"Behold!"

"No way!"

"That guy again…!"

"What a bothersome fool…"

"T-that's…!"

"No good!"

"W-who…?"

"Oh, by all the…!"

"Jeez."

Subaru, Jack, Solo, Luna, Kizamaro, Kiboyama, "Veronica" and Shidou cursed upon seeing Phantom Black standing the middle of the room and laughing.

"Now! Let's repeat history! Such is my scenario! And today my ace-in-the-hole will help me beat that bothersome Rock Man brat!" Phantom Black announced.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Not so fast! _Our_ scenario says that we're gonna beat this jerk to a pulp… The Black Demon descends!"

"By all the…!" Phantom Black cursed.

Sigma suddenly dropped down from the ceiling and landed behind him while Blood Shadow appeared at his left and Omega at his right: Phantom Black looked around in disbelief.

"Sigma. Do the honors." Omega commanded.

"Be gone." Blood Shadow grumbled.

"You lowlifes…!"

Sigma tugged his cape and spun him around as a purple gateway opened and they threw him inside of it as he yelled something.

"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE~!" He threatened.

The purple gateway vanished and both Sigma and Omega shrugged with smiles on their faces while Blood Shadow remained serious.

"Sorry. But the film you've seen was altered by that guy. The directors will return to you the value of your tickets." Omega announced.

"NO WAY!" The crowd groaned.

"Mission: complete. Let's go back! And B-B-B-Bertie~! Hear me out! You and Anastasia will found a club: the beat-'em-all club!" Omega laughed at his joke.

"Eh… Sir Omega, I think that…" Sigma nervously whispered.

"Oh. By all the…" Blood Shadow didn't like the joke.

"OMEGA~!" Vadous roared.

"Ops. Time to flee!"

They jumped into the gateway and disappeared while the lights turned on and turmoil formed inside of the room.

"Lovely. Hyde actually rewrote the whole film and made us waste time, energy and our money. What a morning!"

"By the way, Rock Man. Are you sure that…?" Solo questioned something in a hushed tone.

"What… Do you think we can't tell them apart? You can't fool the EEG readout." Subaru rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Yet… You told me the orb vanished?"

"Yeah. But it's not like it can be that much of a deal. Maybe it returned to the origin spot or it had another safe place set into it."

"Hum. The prince of the On'Setsu is not an enemy to be underestimated."

"If you say so… But it could be _anywhere_ in the world!"

"I know. But I won't feel settled until I can lock it up in one of the Mu crypts somewhere." Solo replied.

"Do as you like."

"Hmpf. Good. Ah. And don't forget our little "game" either… I'll call you when I feel in the mood…" He teased.

"Fantastic." Subaru grumbled.

Solo walked out ahead of the others and Shidou rolled his eyes as if he didn't like the guy's behavior.

"So? What do we do now, _iinchou_?" Subaru asked.

"I can't think of anything else but to disperse. I want to put the finishing touches into my first speech." She shrugged.

"My uniform should have arrived by now… They had to fit it to my size, after all." Kizamaro muttered.

"I'd rather go to somewhere far and isolated to shake off the stress. Nice meeting you, Gino – kun! I guess Subaru – kun will brief you in when you get to a secure location. Bye~!" "Veronica" told them.

"Pororon! Ah! By the way! And don't destroy half of the town while fighting with Ox, either. Rocky~!" Harp warned.

"Hah! Then I'll do it!"

"You won't."

"Who is gonna stop me?"

"Boss."

"Oh. Crap. The guy told me, yeah…"

"Well! I'm off to pick some "Sweet Candy" before Queen Tia can impose a diet into me!" Shidou grinned.

"I'd say ya don't provoke neechan, Akatsuki."

"I agree as well. Dr. Yoiri and the Chief would not approve of it, either, Shidou."

"Oh. Leave me alone."

"Middle school…! I hope I'll do well…!" Kiboayama muttered.

"You will, Gino – kun!" Subaru encouraged.

"Yeah. Use yer head." Jack grinned.

"Did anyone ask for a head in a silver platter?" War Rock joked.

"No. And shut up or I'll tell Boss to give me what we'd agreed upon to then lock you on the server. I'll feel better without you around for a little while." Subaru drily told him.

"Crap."

"You had it coming, War Rock." Acid drily told him.

"Shaddup!"

"YO, YO, YO! Hear out Moon Ace's newest extravaganza in live~! Let's go~!" Moon Disaster suddenly showed up on ALL advert "Real Wave" banners and screens.

"Oh! Crap!" The whole group (save Kiboayama) muttered.

"There was a rolling rocking stoning stone roll rock which danced at the tune of the dancing master's return from Malmö in Sweden! But then this not-so-nice guy ended up becoming a digger and dug out rusted microphones which had belonged to the Beatles!" He sung in a rush.

"That's… lame." Shidou muttered.

"Totally, sir." Kiboayama muttered next.

"That's a song?" "Veronica" sounded annoyed.

"Someone go make the guy shut up!" War Rock grumbled.

"YO, YO, YO! And let's go for more! Rock Man will rock the man 'cause that's how he got the name~!"

"That's… ridiculous." Subaru groaned.

"But rocky – sama then went and beat the guy with his uppercut combo followed by his burp after drinking Budweiser beer: the breath was enough to kill a vampire sans the need of onions!"

"How vulgar!" Luna complained.

"No wonder they name him "Moon _Disaster_", then…" Kizamaro muttered with some annoyance.

"Sorry, Moon Disaster, but no – one out there likes your music. Sing it to the Viruses." Blood Shadow told him as he seemingly showed up on the spot he was at.

"YO, YO, YO! Brad Shad came~!"

"Blood Shadow!" He growled.

"Wanna be the vocals, then?"

"NO! I want you to STOP NOW! Or do you want to meet my Boss' "cold anger" mode, huh?" Blood Shadow grumbled.

"Moon Disaster…!" Vadous icily hissed by deliberately prolonging his exhale.

"Uh-oh… G-guess I'll… go beat Viruses, yeah… L-later…"

"First Omega, now this guy…! Why do these guys show up only to annoy me, anyway?" He grumbled.

"I don't know, Boss. I'll shut this thing down and be on my way back to the HQ." Blood Shadow sighed.

"Good. Later."

"Phew. The nightmare's over…!" Luna muttered.

"O. K.! Then I'll call for Nightmare Man to produce another one in which ya dress up as a Goth loli!" War Rock laughed.

"NO WAY~!" She shrieked.

19:39 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Man! I'm exhausted. This new project involving using the capabilities of "Real Waves" as self-defense devices like barriers or shields means a lot of work because the feedback from the testers says they'd like to be able to customize them! Jeez! Who the hell would like to customize a hammer to begin with? People can be so egoistic… And now we have to build an editor from scratch which we then have to add the capability to accept inputs by the user which aren't into the database! I'm about to go and suggest to the Chief to keep it simple: we don't wanna overspend on something so trivial, really!"

"True, Daigo – san. This is a serious business, after all."

"Yeah! I think so, too. They should do away with that customizer and keep it simple. It's not a car or a surfing board, anyway!"

"Heh! Paint the WAXA logo on it and say it brings luck!"

"War Rock, man… You're totally misunderstanding what "good luck charms" are…"

The Hoshikawa family (plus War Rock) were chatting as they had dinner (War Rock merely hovered behind Subaru) and Daigo was exposing the pros and cons of their latest project: War Rock laughed and Daigo looked somewhat resigned.

"Yet… On Monday, Subaru will finally begin middle school! It will be a very important year, Subaru." Akane smiled at him.

"Yup! I'll do my best!"

"Obviously! That's my son over there!" Daigo smiled.

"Heh, heh, heh. Did ya know that "Veronica" wants to bring him along to a club to play "reverse", Daigo?"

"Wha~t?"

"I don't believe a single word of it, War Rock." Akane dully told him.

"Man. No – one believes me or what?"

"When it comes to these silly jokes, then, no." Subaru replied.

"And who's "Veronica", anyway?"

"Misora – chan! It's a disguise she had to come up to shake off crazy fans and paparazzi!" Subaru admitted.

"What? Misora – chan… Come on! A child like her would never do such a villain – like thing. War Rock! I don't want you insulting Subaru's prestige or we'll have to talk in a serious way!" Daigo warned.

"Alright, I'll drop it. I don't wanna get Vadous' anger directed at me and be locked up on that guy's server!" He grumbled.

"That new classmate boy looked like a nice child. I'm sure you'll get along with him pretty well." Akane smiled at him.

"Thanks, mom."

"Oh! True, true. Greetings from Amachi. He is gonna come visit us when he gets some free time. And Utagai seems to be training with Cygnus at the insistence of Akatsuki, too."

"I should go there, too, when I have time. But it's been a pretty exciting summer, overall. "

"And there's gonna be a middle-school affair, right?"

"No. And now go bust Viruses, please."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh. Since ya pleaded for it… See ya tomorrow! _Bye – bye_, Subari~!" War Rock laughed before he vanished.

"That guy… He won't change!" Daigo muttered.

"But he's a friend of us, so…" Akane giggled.

Subaru merely looked out into the rear garden through the kitchen's window and into the starry skies while smiling.

_A new chapter is about to begin! It'll be cool!_

**THE END**


End file.
